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On today’s episode of the WeCrochet Podcast, we’re talking all about temperature blankets! Whether you’re new to temperature blanket or do them every year, we are celebrating all the variations to this classic project.
First up Sara and Heather chat about the weather and the idea of temperature blankets, which are a snapshot of weather trends in a given location over an entire year.
Then Katelyn gives Sara an overview of the who, what, when, where and why of temperature blankets, with lots of helpful hints about how to organize your temperature blanket yarn, picking a fiber to use, and more. Katelyn loves temperature blankets but she also loves something else. Find out in this episode.
Finally Heather talks to Toni Lipsey, the crochet designer behind TL Yarn Crafts, who designed our Temperature blanket Crochet Along. Toni brought the temperature blanket back into favor with crocheters, and she shares the ways she’s debunked common misconceptions, paving the way for many people to create stylish temperature blankets that they’ll be proud to curl up with at the end of the year. Toni and Heather also come up with the 2020 slogan of the year.
Join the Crochet ALong: Document your year in color when you make the Bias Granny Temperature Blanket using a curated palette in Swish worsted yarn. Each granny square is joined as you go for a comfy, oversized throw blanket. Adjust the colors and temperature gauge to fit your local weather range. By New Year’s Eve, your new favorite blanket will be complete, complete with 365 happy memories.
Temperature blankets are a crocheted record of the weather over a given time period in a given area. The great thing about temperature blankets is that you can pick any colors, yarn, stitch pattern and time span that you want. In this post, we’re talking about how to pick what crochet stitch pattern (or blanket pattern) to use for your temperature blanket, as well as sharing some storage ideas for your year-long WIP.
You might have thought that picking the yarn, or choosing the location and the date were the hard decisions. Now you will need to think about what crochet stitch pattern (or blanket pattern) you want to use. Most of the time a temperature blanket is made with single crochet, row after row showing the temperature for each day for 365 rows. Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box and try one of these suggestions for the stitch pattern to use on your temperature blanket.
With so many options of stitches for your blanket you need to consider a few things. To keep your blanket from getting too long and still recording all 365 days, think about using a shorter stitch. (Think about how long 365 rows will be!)
Typically we aren’t as worried about gauge for a blanket pattern but in this case a gauge swatch will tell you so much about your project. A swatch will tell you the drape you will have and help you figure out the finished measurements of your blanket based on the number of total rows you will make.
Project Storage: How to Store a Crochet Temperature Blanket WIP
Temperature blankets are large projects which require a lot of yarn and will continue to grow as you work it. This means that you will need a great storage system for your project. If you are working on squares/motifs or on long stripes/scarves it will be much easier to take your project with you. Otherwise, consider this to be a project that stays at home so you don’t have to worry about missing colors.
If you DO want to make your Temp blanket project mobile, the WeCrochet Tote Bag is always a great storage option! These bags are larger than you might think and can fit a full sweater inside. You will have plenty of room for your yarn, notions and anything else you might need to keep with you for this project, at least for the first several months of the year!
Our Yarn & Crafts Carry Along is another great storage idea. Not only can you see what you have but it also folds flat for storage when you are finished. A great option to be able to see what colors you still have left and what you need to restock. Grab two and have one for your warm colors and one for your cooler colors.
Another great see through option is the Zippered Project Bags. These are clear bags that let you see what you have inside, making it easy to know what yarn you have and what you might need to stock up on. This bag comes in a few different sizes making it a great go to project bag.
So, are you ready to start your temperature blanket? What stitch will you use? How will you store your WIP?
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.
For those that are just starting on their first blanket, be aware that you have options of what temperature you record and what town or city that you want to record. Temperature blanket location and time period are an important choice to make along with your yarn and stitch pattern.
Remember this is a snapshot of a time period and location. This could be for your hometown, the town of someone you love, a year or a shorter period of time. Use these suggestions to pick the best location and time period for your next, or first, temperature blanket.
Temperature Blanket Location Ideas
Work the temperature of your hometown, your favorite vacation spot or that of a family member or friend. Only you, and those you tell, will know what special place you are recording. No matter what location you use, you are sure to have a beautiful project at the end to cherish.
If you have already made a temperature blanket before you might not want to make another for your hometown. Here are some ideas of locations that you could use your temperature blanket to capture.
Hometown
Current City
Favorite Vacation City
Grandkid’s City
Friend’s City
City of Birth
Temperature Blanket Time Period Ideas
Traditionally a temperature blanket tracks a year, 365 days, of weather. Why not use this project as a way to remember a special event that happened?
Many times people will work one row for each day of the year. This would result in 365 rows of your blanket, so you can choose to work your blanket in another way. Throughout the blanket you can mark special days, like birthdays or anniversaries, with special yarn or by holding a second novelty yarn for that day.
Here are some ideas of time periods that you could track with your temperature blanket.
Pregnancy (9 months of temperatures)
Baby’s First Year
50th Birthday Year (or other milestone birthday)
Graduation Year
First Year of Marriage
Time while building a house
Missed Dates
We know that keeping track of the temperature might be a hard thing to do. Making this a habit is key, but if you missed a date while working on your project there are other ways to get the temperatures you need.
Missed a date while working on your project? Maybe you want to use a year that has already passed. You can still get the past temperature information by using a tool on the internet to get that information.
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.
Pick your yarn color palette before you start! This palette is from Wool of the Andes Worsted.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So you want to learn about crocheting a temperature blanket? Temperature blankets are a crocheted snapshot of the weather over a given time period in a given area. In other words, you use the temperatures of your area to dictate the colors you use to create a blanket. The great thing about temperature blankets is that you can pick any colors, yarn, stitch pattern, geographic location, and time span that you want.
Use yarn to paint a picture of a special year in your life. Before you get started on your next temperature blanket, learn more about crocheting temperature blankets and gather some inspiration. In this post, we’ll do an overview of starting a Temperature Blanket, but stay tuned for more posts on other temp blanket-related posts in the coming weeks!
Before you begin crocheting a temperature blanket, don’t forget to create a key (or temperature gauge) to keep track of what each temperature color will be so that you don’t forget when it is time to start working your project. You’ll need to decide a couple things: How you will decide what temperature to use, how many colors you want to use, and what pattern or stitch you’ll use for your project.
In the image above, BurgundyAndBlush shows a temperature gauge with holes punched next to each temperature range, along with a snippet of yarn which shows the color palette.
Decide what you will base your gauge on: the high temperature of the day, the low of the day, or the mean, median, or average? Choose one of these, then assign a range of temperatures, and the color that will represent each range.
How many colors of yarn will you use in crocheting your temperature blanket? Decide how many colors you will use, and then using your region’s full range of temperatures (the highest to the lowest during the whole year — use an internet search to find this information), determine how wide the range will be for each color you are using.
Remember, you can adjust the temperature gauge to work for your region, depending on your weather and range of temperatures. For instance, if your location stays hot but doesn’t get below freezing, adjust your gauge to fit with your average yearly range of temperatures. Here’s a blank template you can use:
Pick a color palette for your temperature blanket:
While you are determining your temperature ranges, you should also select your color palette. You can use any palette you like, from rainbow colors, to a range of neutral colors, to a specific palette that inspires you. If you’re feeling unsure about how to create a great crochet color palette, here are some color palettes that Toni Lipsey has selected for use with her Bias Granny Temperature Blanket project:
Two images of potential color palettes. On the left, “Warm Tropics” is a color palette with golds, oranges, and rusts, along with some greys. On the right, “Rainbow Bright” is a color palette ranging across the classic rainbow.
For more help with selecting a color palette, you can:
The photo above features an in-progress crochet temperature blanket by angeloakcreations.
What stitch or crochet pattern will you use for your crocheted temperature blanket?
We’re hosting the Bias Granny Temperature Blanket Crochet Along, so of course we would love it if you join us! But there are lots of options for stitches and patterns to use in crocheting your temperature blanket, and some people like to use different patterns each year.
Recommended Reading: For more help on figuring out how to choose a pattern for your temperature blanket, read TLYarnCrafts’ post about temperature blankets.
Tracking Dates
Depending on how you want to work your project you can track the temperature for every day or just the average for the week (and some people track both the high and the low of the day, but we’re not getting into that here!). You will need to be consistent on what you are tracking throughout your project. Tracking the temperature each day can be a challenge. If you don’t make it a habit you might forget to record some days. Set a reminder to at least mark down the temperatures once a week so that you don’t get too far behind.
Use online tools to help keep track of temperatures for your crocheted blanket
If you do forget to record the temperature on the day it occurs, check an online almanac that shows your town’s daily temperature record. A quick internet search of your town’s name + daily temperature should do the trick to help you track down missing temperatures.
Tip: You can also use this method of finding temperatures to crochet temperature blankets for special years you’d like to commemorate. This is wonderful for a special gift, for instance a birthday (using the year of birth) or anniversary gift.
In the image above, crochet_hello uses a Tunisian crochet ripple stitch for a temperature blanket.
How should you keep track of your temperature information?
Use whatever method works best for you. You can use a calendar and write the temperature down on each daily square, use a piece of paper, graph paper, write it in your daily journal, or even make note of it on your phone.
In the image above, rachelcassondra has drawn a graph of the dates, temperature gauge, and then colored in each day’s block to keep track of the yarn color needed.
Does it have to be a blanket?
The Sedona Sweater is a project Toni Lipsey designed using leftover yarn from her 2019 Temperature Blanket.
The concept of a temperature blanket can be altered to be any project that you would rather make. So, before you get overwhelmed by the thought of making a blanket for 365 days consider making a smaller project. Try making a temperature scarf or pillow. Some people have made temperature sweaters, temperature dresses, and even a temperature giraffe! You may need to adjust the stitch pattern that you pick and how you work your days but a temperature project is a great twist to add to any pattern you like.
How to adjust your pattern to work with a temperature schedule?
The concept of the temperature blanket can be used for other items, it is all about keeping a record of an important time in your life. Since the year can be broken up in different ways, you can choose to use the days, weeks, or even months.
If you want to work on a smaller project try:
keeping a record of the weekly or monthly average instead of the daily average for your project.
Finishing a smaller part of your project using the daily temperature, for instance, half a row instead of an entire row.
In the image above, Pixielaurens‘ temperature scarf made with small crocheted circles to signify each day. Each row contains seven circles, in other words, each row is worth one week of temperatures.
How to stay in Love with your crocheted temperature blanket
Many of us fall out of love with our crochet patterns when they take a long time to make. We sometimes get bored with working on the same thing and want to start something new. A temperature blanket is a very large project and it’s easy to understand why people fall out of love with their temperature blankets.
In the photo above, a top-down view of TLYarnCrafts‘ hands working on her crocheted temperature blanket.
Switch up the Stitch: Rather than working the same stitches throughout your blanket try changing it up so that there is something different to look forward to; perhaps you can do 12 blocks total, and each block can use a different stitch.
In the photo above, a top-down view of a partially-completed temperature blanket by zanymade on Instagram.
Work in Batches, not Daily: You also don’t need to crochet your temperature blanket every day. Keep a record of the temperatures and work on it once a week or once a month while you also work on something else.
Get a Temperature Buddy: As with most things it is easier to stay on track when you have an accountability buddy. Grab a friend (in person or virtually) and work on crocheting your temperature blankets together sharing your progress along the way. This is another great way to keep you loving your project and sharing how yours are the same or different.
We invite you to join our Ravelry group’s Temperature Blanket CAL thread. We’ll be happy to cheer you on as you work on your temperature blanket.
Join us for the ultimate CAL (crochet along)! We’ll join crochet designer Toni Lipsey through 2021 in making her Bias Granny Temperature Blanket! What is a temperature blanket? It is a way of documenting the temperature throughout a given year.
Document your year in color when you make the Bias Granny Temperature Blanket. This temperature blanket chronicles the temperature for each day of the year using one of three carefully curated palettes in Swish Worsted yarn. Each granny square is joined as you go for a comfy, oversized throw blanket. Adjust the colors and temperature gauge to fit your local weather range. By New Year’s Eve, your new favorite blanket will be complete, complete with 365 happy memories.
Toni designed this blanket for use with Swish Worsted, and has put together 3 color palettes using that yarn (see below), but you are also free to create your own color palette!
Get the 2021 Temperature Blanket Kits at 20% off!
If you want to create your own color palette, we will provide tips and tricks for that in a future blog post, or check out the WeCrochet Podcast episode 12: Show Your True Colors, in which we talk about how to choose colors for your project, and Toni Lipsey gives tips on how she chooses her wonderful color palettes.
Toni’s Swish Worsted Palettes
If you like, pick one of Toni’s 3 suggested color palettes in Swish Worsted:
3. Create a Temperature Gauge
Use this temperature gauge to assign a color to a temperature range that works for your location (for example 31-38 degrees is assigned the Dove Heather colorway). Each day throughout the year, you’ll make a small granny square motif in the color to match the high temperature each day. At the end of the year, all the squares will be joined together to create a blanket documenting the year.
Here’s a gauge you can save to fill out:
Toni has made temperature blankets for a few years now, and we can’t wait to join her with this project in 2021! It’s a great reason to find time to crochet every day, and each person’s blanket will be unique to them! Be sure to share your progress with #WeCrochetTempBlanket2021!
How to Join the Crochet Along:
To participate in the 2021 Temperature Blanket Crochet Along, join and post here:
December 1: Pick one of Toni’s color palettes. We have kits available on crochet.com or check out the color offerings in Swish Worsted and create a color palette of your own.
December 7: Order your yarn! Be sure to get your order in before the end of the year, so you’ll be ready to start crocheting on January 1!
December 14: Look over the pattern and work up a practice granny square.
December 21: Assign your color palette to temperature ranges for your area. Pro tip: if you live in a climate where the temperature doesn’t fluctuate very much, assign a smaller temperature range so you can still use all the colors throughout the year!
January 1: Begin! Start making granny squares to match the daily temperature and keep it up as the year progresses!
February 1: First check-in! Share pictures of the squares you’ve made so far on social media with #WeCrochetTempBlanket2021
June 1: Second check-in! Share more photos and admire how everyone’s colors have started as the seasons change.
November 1: Last check-in! Share more photos of your progress. See the colors start to change again.
December 31: Finish up and share your photos! Use this day to join all your motifs together and finish up the crochet border. Be sure to share your photos so we can see your year’s worth of work and start getting ready for the temp blanket of 2022!
