color palettes Archives - WeCrochet Staff Blog

Crochet Temperature Blankets: Picking Colors & Yarn

by Katelyn Moll on Nov 16, 2020

Temperature blankets are a snapshot of the weather over a given time period in a given area through your crochet. The great thing about temperature blankets is that you can pick any colors, yarn, stitch pattern and time span that you want.

Yarn color palette — Pick your yarn color palette before you start! This palette is from Wool of the Andes Worsted.

Please join us for our 2021 Temperature Blanket Crochet Along!

Once you decide that you want to make a temperature blanket to record a year or time period you will need to choose what yarn you will use. Picking colors and yarn for your temperature blanket is important because you need to know how many colors you will use, what range of colors you will need, and how many balls of yarn you might need.

Picking Yarn Colors and Deciding How Many

A top-down view of a hand holding a crochet hook against a partially-completed crocheted temperature blanket in orange, rust, and gold tones. — Join our 2021 Temperature Blanket Crochet Along, featuring this pattern by Toni Lipsey

Picking your colors and how many is determined by range between your high and low temperature. Take a look at the highs and lows that you are seeing for the year, or the year before, to get an idea of where to start.

Most often people pick between 8-10 colors to represent their temperatures. Each of these colors will represent between 5-12 degree changes. This all depends on how much of a difference you have between your high and low for the year, so yes that means that there is some math before you get started on your project.

A yarn color palette called "Warm Tropics" featuring a range of warm colors in Swish Worsted yarn.

Although you will see that many temperature blankets are done with rainbow colors, having reds be the warmer temperature and blues being the colder temperature, you can pick any colors you enjoy. Be sure to think about the value difference in the colors so that you can always be sure to see the difference. A really great way to do this is to take a black and white photo of your color selections. This will show you if there is any value difference between your colors.

Picking the Right Yarn for a Temperature Blanket

Because you will need multiple colors of yarn it is important to pick a yarn that is affordable for your budget and also that has a wide range of colors to choose from. You might also consider if the yarn is machine washable for ease of care, and remember that the weight of the yarn will affect your chosen stitch pattern and the size of the final finished blanket.

An example temperature gauge for a crochet temperature blanket

It is hard to tell exactly how much yarn you will need for this project. Just like meteorologists, we can’t predict what the weather will be for the entire year, so we need to make a guess. If you aren’t sure what your average high or low is for your area try out a weather tracker to get those answers. A lot of your yarn requirements will also depend on where the temperature falls in your scale. If it is an uncommonly cold or super warm temperature you might only use it once or twice so you might only need one or two balls of that color.

You can look at last year’s temperatures, or examine several recent years’ temperature history to get a feel for how often certain temperatures might occur. Then make an educated guess.

WeCrochet Yarn Suggestions

There are quite a few great yarn options from WeCrochet that you can use for your temperature blanket.

Balls of Brava Worsted yarn from crochet.com — Brava Worsted

Brava Worsted is always a great choice! Not only is it super affordable but the color selection is extensive. Another great thing about this yarn is that you can get a 500g skein of some of the colors (Brava 500) that you might be using a lot! This is a go to option when making a blanket for someone else because it’s machine washable and dryer friendly, and the price can’t be beat.

Brava Worsted: 100% premium Acrylic, 218 yards, 49 colors

Balls of Swish Worsted yarn from crochet.com — Swish

Swish comes in both worsted and DK to make it a great choice for making temperature blankets. This yarn line has a large color palette making it a great choice for color work projects like a temperature blanket. This yarn is machine washable, and super soft.

Swish Worsted: 100% Fine Superwash Merino Wool, 110 yards, 43 colors

Swish DK: 100% Fine Superwash Merino Wool, 123 yards, 39 colors

Balls of Wool of the Andes Superwash yarn from crochet.com — Wool of the Andes Superwash

Wool of the Andes Superwash is another strong option when it comes to color selections. It’s a great option for a warm wool fiber that is also machine washable and easy to care for.

Wool of the Andes Worsted Superwash: 100% Superwash Peruvian Highland Wool, 110 yards, 100 colors

Balls of Comfy Worsted yarn from crochet.com — Comfy

Comfy is a a great cotton-blend option. This yarn is a combination of cotton and acrylic that will make it perfect for areas with warmer weather. This machine washable yarn is also great for gifting as it is easy to care for and a natural fiber. It comes in both Worsted and Fingering weight, which means you can select the weight that will keep your Temperature Blanket the right size.

Comfy Worsted: 75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic, 109 yards, 34 colors

Comfy Fingering: 75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic, 218 yards, 19 colors

Balls of Palette yarn from crochet.com — Palette Yarn comes in 144 colors

Palette is always a fan favorite when it comes to color work. With 144 colors there are so many options for your temperature blanket – you could even use a different color for every single temperature!

Palette is a fingering weight yarn so it will require more stitches depending on what stich pattern you choose. Being fingering weight could be a benefit so that your finished project doesn’t get too large but you still get all 365 days included. This yarn is hand-wash only and lay flat to dry.

Palette Fingering: 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 231 yards, 144 colors.

A top-down view of a hand holding the edge of a crocheted temperature blanket in warm colors.

If you haven’t already, please join our 2021 Temperature Blanket Crochet Along, and read our other related articles:

The Ultimate Guide to Temperature Blankets

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Tags: How to, Inspiration

CAL Check-In: Faux Fade Wrap Crochet Along: Progress Photos, Non-Wool Yarn Ideas, and Color Palettes

by WeCrochet on Oct 1, 2020

Janine models her Faux Fade Crochet wrap available from crochet.com

Hi Crochet-Alongers! How are you progressing on your Faux Fade Wrap, our current WeCrochet CAL? If you’d like to join (or just get caught up on all the CAL details), go here to find the Faux Fade Wrap Crochet Along information.

By now, you should have already chosen your fade colors and made a swatch, and possibly already started your shawl! Let’s check in on a few people to see how they are doing.

Zoey’s Faux Fade Shawl

Zoey is our digital graphic designer (responsible for all our pretty downloadable calendar wallpapers, WeCrochet emails, and other goodies), and she’s a beginner crocheter who decided to jump in and join the Faux Fade Shawl CAL.

First, she had to choose her color palette! She was thinking a dark red & black palette, (inspired by Freddy Kreuger’s sweater!), so I helped her figure out what colors to use.

A Red and Olive-striped Freddy Kreuger sweater paired with five balls of Palette yarn in dark gray, gray twist, dark red, tomato red, and olive.

She settled on these Palette Fingering yarn colors: Black, Asphalt Heather, Asphalt Twist, Garnet Heather, Tomato, and Larch Heather.

CAL TIP: We also decided that even though this pattern is simple, it is really helpful to have a stitch marker to mark which side you need to do the increases on, since you only increase on one side of the shawl.

That’s all the progress we have to report so far on Zoey’s shawl, but check back in later for more.

Producer Sarah’s Faux Fade Wrap

Six balls of Palette yarn in mustard, rouge, tan, brown, sage green, and navy, along with a small triangular crochet swatch and a hook.

Producer Sarah is also working on the Faux Fade Wrap. Her project page on Ravelry says: “I don’t have the exact yarns that the pattern calls for so I’m not sure I’ll do the fade effect. I just have single cakes of Palette. Might just do stripes.”

So far, it’s looking pretty cool, Producer Sarah!

WeCrochet Ravelry Group CAL WIPs:

A pink fade crochet swatch atop a box of bright orange, red, and pink mini skeins of Palette yarn.

Skeeleyma on Ravelry has a Palette Minis Sampler Box to play with! She started with this pink fade, but decided to frog and go with a more Autumnal palette, and it’s looking NICE (check out more pics on her Ravelry project page):

A Faux Fade shawl crochet swatch that fades from brown to orange to brighter orangey-pink.

Then SheThatKnits on Ravelry has a really pretty color palette started, in a steely blue-gray array:

Five balls of Palette yarn in blue-grays.

Non-Wool Yarn Alternatives?

A blog comment box that says: "Would be really nice if you could provide at least one wool-free yarn in the kit builder. Some of us are truly allergic, and others are vegan, so having an option would provide more opportunities for people to join the CAL. Also, because I don't have the pattern or issue 4 of WeCrochet (yet), I can't look for my own yarn because I don't know how much to buy."

Heather replies: "Thanks for this feedback. Great points! I will pass this along to the team. As for yardage, you need 1848 total yards. You can also buy the pattern by itself here (link)."

We got a comment from SusieKrochets, who made a great point — what about those who don’t want to use wool yarn?

“Would be really nice if you could provide at least one wool-free yarn in the kit builder. Some of us are truly allergic, and others are vegan, so having an option would provide more opportunities for people to join the CAL. Also, because I don’t have the pattern or issue 4 of WeCrochet (yet), I can’t look for my own yarn because I don’t know how much to buy.”

I did pass this feedback along to the team, as something for us to think about in future CALs and kits! So what about people who want to use a non-wool yarn for this project?

Because this is made of single crochet stitches, I bet the drape won’t be adversely affected by switching fibers, so you can definitely use a non-wool fingering weight yarn of your choice for this. (Results will vary when you switch up a fiber, but that’s all part of the joy of crochet, dontcha think?). You might want to play around with hook sizes and swatching to make sure the shawl results in a drape that you like.

First though, let’s figure out the yarn QUANTITIES you need for this shawl. The Faux Fade Shawl pattern calls for 1848 total yards of fingering weight yarn

Using Palette, you need:
1 ball lightest color (231 yards)
1 ball light color (231 yards)
2 balls medium color (462 yards)
2 balls darker color (462 yards)
2 ball darkest color (462yards)
= 8 balls total

So you can use those numbers to work out what you will need when you substitute yarn for this pattern.

Here are some non-wool yarn ideas for this CAL:

Comfy Fingering

With a large selection of colors, this yarn is a perfect cotton option for the Faux Fade Shawl. The blend of Pima cotton and acrylic fibers in Comfy Fingering make it easy to crochet, and it’s completely washable and easy-care.

Because this yarn comes in at slightly less yardage per ball of Palette (218 versus Palette’s 231 yards), you might want to buy extra balls of yarn, or just throw a single extra in for one of the colors (which should cover the difference, although it might affect where the color fades take place on the shawl.)

Here are a couple Comfy Fingering palettes you could try:

A color palette consisting of five balls of yarn in the following colors: Black, Blackberry, Lilac, Hollyberry, Whisker (gray)

A dark and deep Comfy Fingering palette.

A color palette consisting of five balls of yarn in the following colors: White, Whisker (gray), Black, Sea Foam (aqua), Peapod (bright green)

A light and bright Comfy Fingering palette.

Lindy Chain

Superbly lightweight and endlessly versatile, Lindy Chain is a chainette yarn that is just the thing for a warm weather version of the Faux Fade Wrap. It’s a linen-cotton blend. Available in 20 stunning shades that range from rich hues to soft pastels, this is a good plant-based fiber to try for this project.

This yarn has 180 yards per ball so you will definitely need to pick up an extra ball or two to make the full 1848 yards.

Here’s a color palette to try in Lindy Chain:

A color palette consisting of five balls of yarn in the following colors: Rouge (dark pink), Blush (light pink), Gosling (light gray), Ash (dark gray), and Black.

Deep pink fading to gray and then black is a romantic choice for the Faux Fade Wrap.

Alpaca Cloud Fingering

Finally, Alpaca Cloud Fingering IS an animal-based yarn (100% Superfine Alpaca), but it’s non-wool, so if a wool allergy is an issue, this yarn should do the trick. It is super-soft, has a lovely drape, and a nice array of colors to choose from.

Each hank has 200 yards, so pick up an extra hank to make sure you get the full 1848 yards.

This yarn line has a very lovely array of neutrals, so you can go with an understated neutral color palette:

A color palette consisting of five balls of yarn in the following colors: White, Cream, Tan, Light Gray, Dark Gray.

But this yarn line also has a lot of vibrant colors, so you can create a rainbow fade:

A color palette consisting of five balls of yarn in the following colors: Red, Gold-Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue.

I’m a color geek, so I could sit here all day generating potential color palettes for your Faux Fade Wraps!

Absolutely Nobody: ….
Heather: HERE are some PALETTES for your CROCHET PROJECTS!

How is YOUR Faux Fade Wrap project going?

Now it’s your turn! How is your Faux Fade Wrap project going? What colors did you pick for your project? Are you finding the pattern simple, difficult, relaxing, or stressful? Let me know in the comments, or on social media with the hashtag #WeCrochetCAL.

If you haven’t joined yet but you would like to, there’s still time. Find out all the details for the CAL in our Faux Fade Wrap CAL Announcement post.