So You Want To Make A Temperature Blanket...

Happy New Year! It's that time of year everybody! The knitters and crocheters are thinking about whether or not to start the year long journey of making an infamous temperature blanket. I am here to help... or at least give my opinion on some things. I crocheted a temperature blanket for the year 2025. This was a very special year because I got married and it turned out to be the year both my nieces were born. So I really wanted to document that year somehow and decided to make a temperature blanket. Here I'll share what I did, what I'd change, and some general tips for getting started!

Before you start there are a few things you'll need to decide on...

Temperature

It might sound simple to just track the temperature every day, but it turns out it can be a bit more complicated than that. I realized I'd have to decide which temperature reading I was going to use to represent the day on my blanket, and decided to go with the high temperature for the day. This felt like a better representation for how the day as a whole felt to me. I also only wanted to include one temperature for each day rather than multiple. However, you can get super creative and in dept with this. I've seen people do gradients or granny squares of low and high temperatures, I've even seen rows that include hourly temperature for all 24 hours in the day - that's commitment! But if you want to keep it simple, I'd say pick either low, high, or average. These will be easier to track and look up if you miss a day or two.

Speaking of keeping track of temperature, you're going to want to pick your location and where you will be looking up the temperature for the day. Pick a data source and stick with it! I chose to do where I live and I used https://www.wunderground.com/ to look up days I missed. Some people do the temperature based on where they are that day. So let's say you're from Maine and you vacation in Florida during the winter, you'd track the temperature it is in Florida while on vacation instead of the temperature back home in Maine. I live in New England and didn't travel outside of New England at all this year, so mine wouldn't have varied much anyways if I had done it this way. But I chose to just stick to where I live.

Next is the fun part, you'll want to decide on what colors and what yarn you want to use! I would start with deciding on what range you want to use for temperatures and what colors you want to assign those. For example, I did every 10 degrees Fahrenheit for mine and stuck to warmer colors being for warming temperatures and cooler colors being for cooler temperatures. I really wanted a classic temperature gradient look. However, I've seen some beautiful color schemes online like all cool tones, earthy tones, muted colors rather than brights. The combos are pretty much limitless. Do what makes you happy and matches your style. If I were to do it again, I think I would choose something that matches our bedroom decor a bit better, but it does have every color, so really I suppose it goes with everything.

You'll also want to decide if you want to include any unique or special yarns to represent different days. For example, I added in gold sparkly yarn for our wedding day and silver on birthdays. I saw one woman online add white yarn to each day that it snowed and blue to days it rained. I recommend making any special rules like this early on in the process so you don't get halfway through and wish you added that faux fur yarn in on your cat's gotcha day. Some other ideas for specialty yarn add ins:

• A special color or texture for vacations/trips

• Holidays get a festive color added in to match that day

• Life events (Examples: Starting a new job, child being born, buying a house/moving, wedding, engagement, graduations, etc...)

• First day of new season gets a color added in

• Moon phases each have a color

Let's Talk Yarn

Now you'll want to decide on what kind of yarn you'll be using for the entire blanket. I recommend choosing something you are comfortable working with, because you will be using this ALL year remember. You might want to choose wool to have a more breathable but still warm blanket for the winter time, or cotton if you're in a warmer climate and want something lightweight or that might be good to bring to the beach for example. Or maybe there's a local alpaca farm and you just really really want to support them by getting yarn from their store. Choose what works for you. I opted for Acrylic yarn (very controversial, I know). I mainly used Loops & Threads because they had a variety of colors that would go with my color scheme and a few by Red Heart because I already had some on hand and they are relatively cheap to get. I would say that I do prefer Loops & Threads though, they are much softer feeling to work with in my opinion. Whatever you choose, just make sure you either buy enough to last through the whole project, or that it is something you will be able to repurchase if you need it again! These were both things I could buy at the local Michael's craft store when I ran out.

What I used:

10-19 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Blue

20-29 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Aqua

30-39 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Mint

40-49 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Ivy

50-59 Degrees: Loops & Threads Impeccable in Guacamole

60-69 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Butter

70-79 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Coral

80-89 Degrees: Loops & Threads Impeccable in Orange Crush

90-99 Degrees: Loops & Threads Soft Classic in Bright Red

Dividing the months/boarder color: Red Heart in White

Birthdays & Wedding: Clisil 50g Silver & Gold Lurex Glitter Yarn

However, I will say, don't be like me and use multiple brands if you can help it! It's going to turn out much more cohesive if you stick to the same brand, weight, etc... Even within the same brand I ended up getting two different lines because the Loops and Threads Soft Classic line didn't have all the colors I wanted. But the Impeccable line did feel different and was a little bit thinner. This wasn't bad enough to cause a huge problem, but I can definitely notice that my rows are a little bit thinner for those colors and could see it slightly alter the shape when there were a large number of rows of that color all together. Plus the weight will play a big factor in how many stitches wide you'll need to make it and how long it will turn out in the end.

Making The Blanket!

Now that you have all your supplies decided on, it's time to get started on the blanket itself! But there are still a few more decisions to make. Are you doing one row every day? Are you making one granny square for each day? One flower for each day? A bigger granny square for each month? All wonderful options that are worth considering. I decided I wanted classic rows and If you are going with rows I would start with what stitch and how big you want to make your blanket! Keep in mind that it will be at least 365 rows long. I wanted mine to be able to fit on our queen size bed. I knew I would be using all single crochets for my blankets, so I did 300 across for my first chain so that it would drape just over the edge on each size of the bed and the 365 (plus dividing rows) would make it long enough to hand down at the bottom too. This might also depend on what yarn weight you have and what stitch you want to use, or if you're using more than one type of stitch.

I think it would be really cool to do a different type of stitch for different types of weather, but I did not get that advanced with mine! I stuck with single crochets because I didn't want it to get too big (and honestly, it's pushing the limits with that). I've seen moss stitch or double crochet ones, just keep these things in mind when planning because it will play a factor in the length you end up with in the end. Consider making a swatch to measure out! See how big your single crochet stitch ends up being and multiply by the number of rows you plan to have. Granny squares might be a bit easier to control size wise. Each square would be the same size so you can make one and judge measurements off of that. If I were to do it all over again though, I think it would be really fun to make a giant star blanket, and make the stitches match the weather for the day. I think it would turn out so unique!

How Do I Keep Track Of All This?

I highly recommend having a system for keeping track of all of these different things! Some people prefer a spreadsheet. There are tons of worksheets that are free online. I'm sure there are even apps that you can get to keep track of crochet projects. I've seen some lovely cards people have made with index cards or cardboard that have a swatch of each color yarn attached to them with the color name and what temperature range they match that look so aesthetically pleasing! So once again, do what works for you! Just make sure you are in fact keeping track. You don't want to forget what the name of the orange yarn you are using for the 70 degree range is when you run out and have to order more online! Or what hook size you were using when you haven't picked up the project in a few weeks (or months, oops) and stole that hook for other projects. For me, I used my bullet journal planner. I use one every year, so it's always with me and I could easily add to the page and make notes if needed. (Yes, there is a ring there from putting a mug of tea on my notebook... it adds character).

Don't Get Discouraged!

Now you'll just make a small part of it every day for the whole year! Easy right? Well... here's the thing... You will probably get behind! Unless you are super diligent, something is bound to come up to make you fall behind. You catch a winter cold and are sick in bed, you go on that family vacation and don't want to lug your half made blanket all over the place, the cat is sitting on it and you can't move them, you are working on planning a wedding and forget about it for 6 months... that one might have just been me. But you get the idea. Don't get discouraged. The blanket will still be there whenever you are ready to pick it up again and don't injure yourself trying to catch up (I've heard some horror stories online). Just keep going and have fun with it. If it isn't fun anymore, don't work on it! Taking a break is OK!

Other Things I Personally Found Helpful

After I got through the May month, I ended up putting all the yarn I was using for the temperature blanket into a drawer by itself. This was my designated temperature blanket drawer where I could store my yarn, the blanket itself, and any other supplies I needed for the project. This worked out great because I didn't have to search through my whole stash of yarn to find what I needed, it was all in one place together. Highly recommend having some kind of way to keep everything together like this.

Weaving in ends as I went. I actually didn't weave them, I crocheted over them at the beginning of each row. Maybe not quite as sturdy, but definitely quicker and easier for me. I would have been so discouraged at the end having to weave in all of those ends left behind. Do not wait until the end of the year to weave in your ends!

Adding a monthly separator color. I chose to do a row of white in between each month, and I am so glad I did! Even though this made the blanket a bit longer, it helps me clearly be able to see where the beginning and end of each month are. If you don't care about that, then don't bother, but I really like being able to see each one separated out.

Timing how long making one row took me at the beginning. This might not be for everyone, but it helped me gage how much of a time commitment this would turn out to be and honestly made me feel much more confident in my ability to finish the project as a whole. Each row took me 15-20 minutes to do if I wasn't interrupted or distracted at all. That means this blanket took me over 95 hours to finish throughout the year! That's amazing.

What If I Don't Want To Make A Whole Blanket?

There are a ton of alternatives to a temperature blanket that still keep in the spirit of documenting the temperature every day all year. Here's a few ideas:

• Scarf

• Sweater

• Worm/snake

• Shawl

• Table runner

• Wall hanging

What If I Don't Care About The Temperature?

You can keep track of a million different things using this same idea of daily tracking! Here's some ideas:

• Pages read

• Mental health

• Mood

• Weather

• Exercise

• Daily Step Count

• Chronic illness symptoms

• Hours slept

• Hobbies

So now I hope you have put some thought into what you personally want to do and can make some decisions about your crochet project. I don't anticipate making another temperature blanket any time soon. Like I said, I wanted to have a memento for the year I got married to look back on, and it was a bonus that my nieces were also born this year. 2025 was a memorable year and I don't think I will make another unless something huge is happening in my life. But this was a super cool project to do and I like pointing at it now that it's done and saying it took me a whole year to make. So let me know if you're making a temperature blanket this new year or if you have made one for a previous year!