Stitching the Seasons: Tracking Climate with a Temperature Blanket (COMPLETED 2023)

Getting Started

Getting Started (See Getting Started 2023 Blog Post)

I started crocheting last year with my daughter, we share our makes on instagram @ourcrochetlife, usually I use super chunky & size 15mm hook. I am using 2 strands of DK & a 10mm & HDC for this project as I love the rhythm of the stitch and cost wise DK is cheaper and come in much longer lengths. 

I picked just 5 colours as temperature doesn’t change much in Scotland. There are so many ideas you can do with these blankets and so fun to see how the temperature changes in the garden over the year.

Picked Our Colours & Decided On A Stitch 

DETAILS: This is what I used on this one
🧶2 strands of DK (to make chunky)
🧶10mm Hook
🧶150 stitches across 
🧶HDC stitch
🧶Recording highest temp of each day 

Decide On A Range 

RANGE/GAUGE: I Picked just 5 colours as I wanted to be able to look at a glance at what range it was next year. 

🧶Under 0° White (cold/snow temps)
🧶1-6 Grey (frost temps)
🧶7-13 Duck Egg (low temps)
🧶14-20 Vintage Peach (warm temps) 
🧶Over 21 Mustard (hot temps)

Taking the highest temperature from each day and using that as the temperature colour I use. For example if the highest temperature of the day was 6° then I would do 1 row of Grey 

Adjusted my scale a little on the white though, to the average rather than the highest as some days it’s been -7° at night, then -3° most of the day, but for an hour or 2 its 1°, which would make it grey and I don’t feel that would represent the day, or if it has snowed that day I would pick white.

I want to look back and see the days that were solid frozen ground outside that we couldn’t plant outside- these will be white days.

Here is What Happened in the Last 6 Months

July

High: 25°c – 8th July

Low: 6°c – 18th July

Rain: 13 days

Watch Video Reel For July Here

August

High: 24°c – 10th Aug

Low: 6°c – 26th Aug

Rain: 13 days

Watch Video Reel For August Here

September

High: 28°c – 8th Sept

Low: 3°c – 23rd Sept

Rain: 9 days

Watch Video Reel For September Here

October

High: 18°c – 10th Oct

Low: -3°c – 23rd Oct

Rain: 12 days

Watch Video Reel For October Here

November

High: 13°c – 20th Nov

Low: -6°c – 12th Nov

Rain: 12 days

Watch Video Reel For November Here

December

High 12°c – 17th Dec

Low -5°c – 1st Dec

Rain 14 days

Watch Video Reel For December Here

ADDING A BORDER

After finishing the Temperature Blanket for 2023 I decided it needed a border, I initially just did a speckled grey/white border but it didn’t feel enough so in colour order I used on the range. I put 1 row of each colour on. This is perfect to remember the colour order too in years to come so you don’t need to go looking for it. I think it really finished it off well an option to decide on at the end.

I also added a few stitches in the speckled grey/white yarn on each of the monthly ends to show where each month is.

Total size of each one is: 190cm by 260cm

Temperature Blanket July to December 2023

After 12mths we now have 2 full sized double bed blankets!!!

Really enjoying this project so far and just doing 1 row a day which takes about 8mins has produced a huge blanket with pretty much zero effort.

Doing things constantly, 1 step at a time or 1 day at a time or in this case 1 row at a time adds up to big achievements over time.

It is a really fun way to see the whole year of weather, looking forward to seeing patterns that come up too over the years of doing them.

Our Temperature Blanket Completed. Monitoring Weather In The Garden & Crocheting A Visual Memory.

Are you doing a temperature blanket or recording the weather of any kind?

Katrina & Clayton and family live in East Ayrshire and share their daily life in the garden on instagram. They practice permaculture principles in the garden, reducing & repurposing waste whenever they can. Katrina shows how home educating in nature has helped Clayton thrive. 

Clayton Completed The 2 Grow and Learn Courses with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. He is Autistic, Non Verbal & has been Home Educated since 2018. Katrina & Peter hold their PDC & PDC PRO Permaculture Design Course from Oregon State University 

They featured on BBC Beechgrove Gardens Ep23 2022 and returned in 2023 for an update,Katrina & Clayton are also columnists for ScotlandGrows Magazine, Guest Blog for Caledonian Horticulture as well as working with Gardeners’ World Magazine and many other brands. They are also Authors of the new children’s book: Clayton’s New Garden Journey: A Story of Autism and Growing available on Amazon & Kindle. Listen in on our Guest Podcast to learn more about us.

Our Children’s Book Series

Author of the new children’s book series: Clayton’s Garden Journey: A Story of Autism and Gardening. Topics on Growing, Harvesting, Sowing & Composting and 108 Page Weather and Seasons Weekly Gardening Record Book available on Amazon and Kindle

Visit Our Print On Demand Stores 

REDBUBBLE STORE -WORLDWIDE
Over 175 Garden & Nature Designs. Coasters, Phone Covers, Bags, Mouse Mats & Much More