Mar
okay so i started my temperature blanket in january 2023 because i saw one on instagram and thought it looked doable, like actually manageable unlike those giant mandala patterns that make my brain hurt. basically you pick a year and crochet one row (or square or whatever) per day based on that day’s temperature. you assign different yarn colors to different temperature ranges and by the end of the year you have this weird data visualization blanket that actually means something.
first thing you gotta do is figure out your temperature ranges. i live in the midwest so i knew i needed colors for like below zero up to the 90s. some people do 5 degree increments, some do 10. i did 10 because i didn’t wanna buy seventeen different yarn colors and also because i’m lazy. so mine was like: below 20°F = dark blue, 20-29 = light blue, 30-39 = teal, 40-49 = green, 50-59 = yellow, 60-69 = orange, 70-79 = coral, 80-89 = red, 90+ = burgundy.
you can use whatever temperature source you want. i used weather.com and just checked the high temp for each day. some people get fancy and use the average or the low or whatever but honestly just pick one method and stick with it. don’t overthink this part.
Picking Your Yarn
i used Red Heart Super Saver for most of it because it’s cheap and i knew this project was gonna eat through yarn like crazy. bought most of mine at Michaels when they had that sale in december 2022. i think i got like 12 skeins to start? ended up needing more of the middle range colors obviously because most days aren’t extremely hot or cold. the blue shades i used were Soft Navy and Light Blue, the green was Medium Green i think, and for the warmer colors i mixed in some Caron Simply Soft in Persimmon because i ran out of the Red Heart orange and didn’t feel like going back to the store.
some people use fancy yarn for these but like… why? it’s gonna be a giant blanket that takes a year to make. use acrylic. it’s washable and cheap and you’re not gonna run into dye lot issues if you need more.
The Actual Pattern Part
there’s no real “pattern” pattern if that makes sense. you’re just making a rectangle. i did mine in rows of single crochet because it’s mindless and i could do it while watching Love Is Blind (don’t judge me). each row was the full width of the blanket – i chained like 200 to start? measure it out to however wide you want your blanket. mine ended up being about 50 inches wide.
you work one row per day in whatever color matches that day’s temp. that’s it. that’s the whole pattern. some people do granny squares instead where each square is a day, which actually might’ve been smarter because then you can work on multiple days at once if you fall behind, but i didn’t think of that until like march.
the thing that REALLY annoyed me was keeping track of which day i was on. i started out all organized with a little notebook where i’d write the date, temp, and color. that lasted maybe three weeks. then i was just looking at my phone calendar and trying to remember if i’d done tuesday yet or not. i definitely did some days twice and probably missed some entirely. there was this whole week in april where i got the flu and just… didn’t crochet at all. so i had to backfill those days later and honestly i might’ve just made up the temperatures because i wasn’t gonna go dig through historical weather data.
How Much Yarn You Actually Need
this depends on your blanket size and your gauge and all that but i can tell you what i used. for my 50-inch wide blanket with 365 rows of single crochet, i used roughly:
- 4 skeins of the middle temp colors (green, yellow, orange) – these are your most common temps
- 2-3 skeins of the slightly extreme colors (teal, coral)
- 1-2 skeins of the real extreme colors (dark blue, burgundy)
but like i said i’m in the midwest so if you live somewhere that’s hot all the time you’ll need way more red/orange yarn. or if you’re in alaska or whatever you’ll need more blues. just think about your actual climate.
Staying Motivated Throughout The Year
not gonna lie, there were months where i just didn’t want to do it. summer was the worst because it was all the same orange-red colors for like eight weeks straight and it looked boring. i kept going because i’d already put in six months and my cat had started sleeping on the in-progress blanket so i felt like i couldn’t quit.
some people work ahead if they know they’ll be busy or on vacation. you can totally do that. just check the weather forecast and make a few days’ worth. i did this before a trip in july and it helped me not fall behind.
also you don’t have to do single crochet rows like i did. you could do:
- granny squares (one per day)
- temperature stripes (same as rows but some people call it this)
- c2c (corner to corner) where you add one diagonal row per day
- hexagons or other shapes
- double crochet if you want it to work up faster
the pattern part really doesn’t matter. it’s more about the color tracking system.
The Actual Daily Routine
every evening i’d check my weather app, find that day’s high temp, grab the right color yarn, and add one row. took maybe 15-20 minutes? sometimes less if i was really in the zone. sometimes i’d batch it and do three or four days on the weekend if i’d missed weekdays.
you’re supposed to weave in ends as you go but lol i didn’t do that. i had like a million ends hanging off this thing by december. spent an entire weekend in january 2024 just weaving in ends while watching netflix. my fingers hurt for days after.
Color Changes
when you change colors each day, just drop the old color and pick up the new one. don’t cut the yarn every single time unless you’re switching to a color you won’t use again for a while. i kept my most common colors attached and just carried them up the side. it looks messy while you’re working on it but you can clean it up at the end or just ignore it because it’ll be on the edge anyway.
if you’re doing squares instead of rows, you’ll have to cut and tie off each square which is honestly why i didn’t do squares. too many ends.
What I’d Do Differently
if i made another one (i probably won’t but hypothetically) i would:
- use a wider temperature range, like 15 degrees instead of 10, so fewer colors
- maybe do every other day instead of every day? 365 rows is SO LONG
- start with more yarn in the common colors – running out partway through sucked
- actually keep track properly with a spreadsheet or something
- pick colors that actually look good together instead of just random colors i thought matched temperatures
that last one is important actually. my blanket has this weird clash between the teal and yellow that i hate. they’re right next to each other in my temperature scale and they just don’t look good together but there were all these days in spring where it bounced between 38 and 52 degrees so there’s tons of teal-yellow-teal-yellow stripes. looks kind of ugly honestly.
Troubleshooting Stuff That Went Wrong
my blanket got wavy on one side because my tension was all over the place. some days i’d crochet really tight, other days loose. by month six it was noticeably wonky. i tried to even it out by blocking it at the end but it’s still kinda weird shaped. doesn’t matter much since it’s just laying on my couch but if you’re particular about these things you gotta watch your tension.
also the blanket got HEAVY as the year went on. by october i was wrestling with this massive thing every time i added a row. if you’re doing this you might want to make it smaller than you think. like maybe 40 inches wide instead of 50. or do a baby blanket size if you just want the concept without the back pain.
ran into dye lot issues with the Caron yarn when i bought more in august. the new skein was slightly different than my original one even though it was the same color name. you can see the line where it switches if you look close. this is why people say to buy all your yarn at once but who has money for that or space to store it?
Is It Actually Worth It
depends what you want out of it i guess. it’s a conversation piece for sure – people think it’s cool when you explain what it is. and there’s something interesting about having a physical record of the year’s weather. like you can see the cold snap we had in february, and the random hot week in october, and… or actually looking at mine i mostly just see that we had a pretty normal year weather-wise which is kind of boring but whatever.
it kept me crocheting regularly which i guess was good? i’m someone who starts projects and never finishes them so having a built-in deadline (the end of the year) helped. but also it was kind of a chore by the end. like i wasn’t excited to work on it, i just wanted to finish.
the finished blanket is warm at least. it’s thick because it’s 365 rows of acrylic yarn. i use it on the couch now and it’s probably my warmest blanket. so there’s that practical element.
Random Tips I Learned
keep a crochet hook in your project bag with the blanket so you don’t have to hunt for one every day. sounds obvious but i kept losing mine.
take progress photos monthly. i wish i’d done this more consistently because it’s cool to see how it grows but i only have like four photos from the whole year.
if you travel a lot, this might not be the project for you unless you’re okay bringing your growing blanket everywhere. by november mine was too big to fit in my project bag easily.
you can do a temperature scarf instead if you want something smaller. same concept, just skinnier. or temperature… i don’t know, coasters? anything where you can add a bit each day.
don’t tell too many people you’re doing this because they’ll ask about it every time they see you and by month eight you’ll be sick of explaining it. just me? okay.
The Technical Stuff
i used a 5mm hook (H hook) with the worsted weight yarn. standard stuff. my starting chain was 200 chains which gave me about 195 stitches per row after the first row (you lose some in the turn or whatever, i don’t actually know why this happens but it does).
chain 200, single crochet in second chain from hook, single crochet across, chain 1, turn. repeat 365 times. that’s the pattern. you’re welcome.
gauge doesn’t really matter unless you’re trying to match a specific size. mine was approximately 4 stitches per inch but i didn’t check consistently so it probably varied.
oh and i added a simple border at the end, just one row of single crochet around the whole thing in dark blue to clean it up. helped with the wavy edges a little bit.
so yeah that’s basically everything i learned from making a temperature blanket in 2023. it’s not as hard as it seems, it’s just long. if you like having an ongoing project and you think color-coded weather data is cool, go for it. if you get bored easily or hate long-term projects, maybe pick something else. i’m glad i did it once but i’m also glad it’s done and i never have to do it again.
