2020 was not really a year most would commemorate, although it has been historical for several reasons. I try to look at the good things that happened instead of dwelling on the negatives. My son started High School, and is thriving during virtual school. He’s gained some life skills such as organization, responsibility, and even gotten a little better at cooking. My husband and I still have jobs, when many do not. We have gotten to spend more time together, and more time fixing up our old 1930’s craftsman style home. Plus, since the year just ended, it’s a great time for me to knock out a ‘temperature blanket’.
A temperature blanket is intended to encourage someone to crochet (or knit) a little bit each day. The idea is that you complete a single row each day, with the color based on the temperature for the day. Those who know me, know that I like to start a project and get it done right away. I’m not one to pick up a project, and do a little bit, then move on. So instead, I decided that January would be the perfect time for me to do a blanket based on the year that just passed. Armed with my old calendar and the power of the interwebs, I looked up the high temperature for my zip code for each day of 2020. Yep 366 days worth of high temperatures (yep, 2020 was a leap year).
Armed with this information I broke down the temperatures into groups that I thought would give me a good range of colors. I felt like 10 degree differences wouldn’t give me enough variation, and 5 degree variations would be too many for our part of the country where we get such a full range of temperatures. So I settled on 7 degree differences instead, which would give me 13 different color possibilities. 2020 didn’t get to be super hot, or super cold, so I ended up not needing the very hottest, or very coldest temperature brackets, but that was fine. I gave each range of temperatures a letter designation so it would be easier for me to keep track of what color each row should be, and made a really long list of each row, replacing the temperature with the color designation.
The breakdown of temperatures for my 2020 blanket, including how many skeins I needed of each.
I decided to use the moss stitch for the blanket, so it would have a little more visual interest than just a single crochet, while not taking up a whole lot of extra room. 366 rows is a lot of rows, and if I used a taller stitch, the blanket would go on for much longer than I wanted. I ran a test row with some old yarn I had laying around, so I could calculate how much yarn of each color I would need. Then headed off to the store to see if I could find 11 different colors of yarn all within one yarn type. Knowing it would be a lot of yarn, I had already settled on using acrylic, to save on the cost. Red Heart would have been my ‘go to’ yarn for cheap projects, but I found that the color selection was lacking at my local stores. I settled instead on the “Impeccable” line of yarn from Loops and Threads. Not only did they have a good variety of colors at my local store, but they were on sale too! I was able to pick up 20 skeins of yarn for somewhere under $60.
My Loops and Threads Impeccable yarn color selection.
Temperatures in January, February, and March are still pretty chilly. With colder temperatures, I’m not likely to be outside working in the yard, or starting any major projects. Giving me lots of time to sit on my sofa and work on knocking out this project. It works up quick and easy. Or at least as quick as 366 rows can work up. I’m loving the color changes, and the organic, almost random feel that it is starting to get. I can’t wait to see the end product, but I’m only 1/3 of the way done, so I still have quite a way to go.
I have a feeling that there are more temperature type items in my future. With the power of the internet, you can often find data from past years, or even other locations. I’m already thinking of a 2006 twin sized temperature blanket for my teen, or perhaps a temperature scarf or shawl for myself based on my birth month. One could even do one based on just important dates/events in someone’s life, pulling data from different years and locations.
