Just before the new year I heard about a new kind of blanket – new to me, but apparently it’s been around for a while. A temperature blanket. Some people knit it and some people crochet. I’ve never knit a blanket before. Lots of mittens, socks, sweaters, etc. but never a blanket. I was intrigued.

The basic idea is that every day you add another row or square or whatever dimension you’re doing according to the temperature that day. It is such a neat idea to have a visual record of the temperature pattern for the year.

But here is where it gets really interesting – there are no rules. Here’s a list of some of the ideas I have seen people talking about and/or doing…

• working both the high and low temp for the day
• using a special colour to mark birthdays, snowy days or rainy days
• doing a blanket for a special year – apparently there are websites with the temperature records as far back as the 1940’s
• doing a blanket for a child recording the temperatures from their first year so birthday to birthday not January to December
• doing an emotion blanket where you do your work according to your predominant emotion that day (I’m not sure I’d want to analyze myself that much ~smile)
• using the first and last five to ten stitches in a different stitch so that they become a border
• another person finds the temperature in her area too similar so she’s doing a fitness blanket – knitting her rows according to the number of steps she does each day
• using a chevron-type of stripe like this free pattern

It can feel a little overwhelming – all the decisions. At first I was going to do a different kind of knit stitch every month choosing three to rotate between. After much thought though, knitting two swatches, and lots of research online I finally decided to keep it simple. I’m doing the garter stitch (two rows/day – I just like the way it looks), no border and a simple black row between months. I also bought a variegated yarn to use for birthdays. I’ll decide on the border when I finish, but right now I’m thinking of a crocheted scalloped black border.

I joined a Facebook group (as an aside, did you know that there is a fb group for just about any interest out there? fascinating) where I’ve learned about knitting technique, ways to join yarn, and been inspired by so many great ideas.

This is one idea that I love, and I really think I want to do next year. A poster said,

I used the number of minutes of daylight to determine how many stitches of high temp (daylight) and how many stitches of low temp. This was Jan thru August. You can see the daylight starting to curve back. I’m currently on Nov 10th, and will post an updated picture soon. I haven’t done my ends yet.

I love. love. love the way you can see the days getting longer and then shorter. I also like seeing the low temps there as well. It will take a lot of planning for all of those colours, but I have a whole year, right?

I’ve also learned a new way to join yarn colours. This is the way I’m currently using although yesterday I was watching another technique called the magic knot, and I’m thinking about trying that. You could also just leave a length of yarn at the end of each row and make a fringe.

 

This is my blanket to date. Today I used my variegated yarn for the first time because it’s Micah’s birthday!