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Completed 2024! 2nd Year
We did a Temperature Blanket for 2023 and now here we are again finishing our Temperature Blanket for 2024.
You can check out last years progress here:
Getting Started 2023
6 Months in 2023
Completed 2023
and this years progress here:
Getting Started 2024
6 Months in 2024
Stitching the Seasons: Tracking Climate with a Temperature Blanket
A temperature blanket is a knitting or crocheting project where each row or section represents the daily temperature over a set period, typically a year. The colours correspond to temperature ranges, creating a visual record of climate trends. Makers choose a colour scale (e.g., blue for cold, red for hot) and stitch a new row daily or weekly based on the recorded temperature
In permaculture, one of the key principles is “Observe and Interact.” This means carefully watching patterns in nature before making changes. A temperature blanket aligns with this principle by encouraging mindful observation of local weather patterns over time.
By tracking temperature fluctuations through a blanket, crafters develop an intimate awareness of their environment, much like a permaculturist observing seasonal changes before designing a sustainable system. This data can reveal useful insights, such as shifts in climate patterns or unusual temperature extremes, which can inform better gardening and land management practices.
Additionally, the temperature blanket concept can be extended beyond fibre arts into permaculture design. Gardeners might use a similar approach, tracking daily temperatures and using colour coded garden journals to visualise climate data. This can guide decisions on when to plant, harvest, or implement protective measures like shade structures or water conservation techniques.
Ultimately, a temperature blanket is both a creative and scientific tool, transforming raw climate data into a tactile, visual representation of weather trends. In the context of permaculture and gardening, it fosters deeper ecological awareness, helping people better interact with and adapt to their local environment.
Picked Our Colours & Decided On A Stitch
As the first permaculture principle is to Observe and Interact, I feel we’re covering that with the weather this last year.
DETAILS: This is what I’m using on this one
🧶2 strands of DK (to make chunky)
🧶10mm Hook
🧶100 stitches across
🧶HDC stitch
🧶Recording highest temp of each day
GUAGE: 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 Green (low temps)
🧶14-20 Light Pink (warm temps)
🧶Over 21 Raspberry (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.
July
High: 23°c – 19th July
Low: 4°c – 6th July
Rain: 10 days
August
High: 22°c – 1st Aug
Low: 4°c – 31st Aug
Rain: 11 days
September
High: 23°c – 6th Sept
Low: 1°c – 25th Sept
Rain: 12 days
October
High: 16°c – 5th Oct
Low: -2°c – 14th Oct
Rain: 12 days
November
High: 15°c – 6th Nov
Low: -7°c – 28thNov
Rain: 14 days
December
High 14°c – 1st Dec
Low -5°c – 10th Dec
Rain 15 days
ADDING A BORDER
After finishing the Temperature Blanket for 2024 I added the border like with 2023 so I will not forget the order of the colours. I put 2 rows the speckled grey/white divider colour on then 1 row of each colour gauge 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.
Temperature Blanket 2023 & 2024
After 2 years we now have a 2 full sized double bed blankets and 2 huge lap blankets for the sofa that spread across the whole length to snuggle in at.
Really enjoyed this project and just doing 1 row a day which takes about 8mins has produced a huge blankets 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. We’ll be doing our last one for 2025 so we can compare the 3 years weather patterns in our garden together.
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?
Happy Gardening!
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 Author of the new Children’s Book Series: Clayton’s Garden Journey: Stories 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. Listen in on their Guest Podcasts to learn more about them.
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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
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