Have you actually completed 365 rows of crochet? It’s way too long with the recommended hook size to the yarn. I have figured out some solutions for temperature blankets.
Using Red Heart Super Saver as an option. The label says 5.5 mm / I Hook. Doing single crochet for the year, the blanket will be approx 102″ long which is 8.5 feet. If you are not paying attention to gauge it could end up to 120″ which is 10 feet cool to look at but not practical.
Hook Changes
I decided to try a gauge check by changing the hooks with keeping Red Heart Super Saver as a constant. How low can I go before it gets impossible to crochet with the hook size.
- Size F, 3.5 mm Hook, full-year is 90″ long which is 7.5 feet. Each month is approx 7.5″
- Size D, 3.125 mm Hook, full-year is 84″ long which is 7 feet. Each month is approx 7″.
- Size C, 2.5 mm Hook, full-year is 78″ long which is 6.5 feet. Each month is about 6.5″.
For me personally, Size C would be the best for my throw on the sofa while watching tv. If I really wanted to have a snooze, Size D would be my next choice.
How A Temperature Afghan Works
Can either check your temperature outside of your home or refer to the Weather Network each day and crochet accordingly. If you think you are not going to crochet for a day, just take the temperature and write it down so when you pick up your project, you have that information handy. I would personally collect temperatures and then binge crochet as some days, the colour may not change at all.
The temperature gauge is showing 6 colours of Caron One Pound yarn.
Once you know the temperature, look at your gauge and crochet the colour that falls within the temperature readings.
The trick is not to cheat the system by falsifying a temperature because you think the colour shouldn’t go where it does. The whole point is capturing the temperature as it happens to make the afghan a true representation of the season you are crocheting in.
PSST… if you cannot start on the first of the month, you can start anytime, when you are done, no one is really going to know if you started on the 1st of the month or had to delay it.
Customizing Your Temperature Gauge
In my region of the world, the chances of it hitting anything above 54 – 66 degrees is unlikely in the wintertime. So what I would do is to change the temperatures to be closer to what is normal for your region.
So I would just stroke out the temperatures and redo the gauge that is closer to temperatures that are possible. For example, I would actually put my lowest temperature to be up to -20 degrees and work up increments all the way up to a maximum to 13 degrees as my highest point. Be creative, just because there are 8 increments that don’t mean you have to have only 8, you can have more colours and closer temperatures.
I would also look at the yarn colours and you can change out the yarn colours too depending on what is in your collection or making something that more reflects your own personal tastes.
To help you further, I have created a downloadable PDF of the Temperature Gauge so you can make your own notes or alterations.
More Ideas
Thermometer Applique
I have written a pattern called the Yarn Thermometer. This pattern will show you how to make an applique that can be applied to your Temperature Afghan.
The colours you have selected for your project are to be used in the thermometer. Once you are done this applique and your project are done. Simply sew this onto the corner of the afghan.
To help you remember what the colours mean, the gauge shows the colours in order of the temperature. So when you look at the project, you can look at the thermometer and remember the temperature increments.
Tips on Selecting the Right Stitch
You could do straight forward single crochet to keep it simple or use a linen stitch. The Crochet Simple Texture Scarf is the linen stitch and easy to do.
If you are going to do a temperature blanket with the scarf pattern. Use the size hook you prefer but ensure your chain is EVEN NUMBER to match it. You can follow the tutorial if you need help but the scarf will work for a full-size blanket.
For New Crocheters
Be sure when chaining, chain an EVEN NUMBER. You can measure out your chain to match a sofa, person or bed. The bigger the chain, the longer it will take to make the project.
The hook and yarn in the tutorials below are suggestions but I would look above for the recommended hook size and use Red Heart Super Saver or equivalent.
Thanks Mikey!
I said the same thing about a scarf I did last year. The dang thing was 84 flipping inches long before the border. To me that’s obscenely long. For those who object to the word, it does have multiple definitions ;-).
I’ve long seen temperature blankets, but have not found them visually appealing so I never made one. Until the tail end of 2019, (I think). Someone posted in The Crochet Crowd facebook group a C2C throw where she did 20 stitches a day and she chose a color palette from white through a spectrum of blues. It looked like a piece of modern art and was absolutely stunning. Someone above also mentioned granny squares 365 of them wouldn’t be too bad either and one could, potentially, change the design of the square for the month.
Thanks so much for all you do for the crochet community!
What about using a dk weight yarn? How many should my starting chain be?
I’m really not sure. Just run a 4″ swatch gauge and calculate how many rows can be done in a 4″ square. Then calculate how many stitches you could do in a 4″ gauge and that will give you an indication on how many you need. Here’s a workshop on gauge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsrmDJXVQ9E
I think it was a stitcher called Jayde who suggested a small granny square for each day. The low is row 1 and the high is row 2. Then assemble as you go. I did that, keeping each month as a long group. I joined each month side by side. Then created filler squares for shorter months. I used those fillers to note the year on and other info. I think doing 2020 was kind of cool, because we had so much down time. I have an app Time & Date that gave me data for every day- so I could catch up if needed to. Good Luck!
Mikey,
I come from a family of mostly female crocheters, from my grandmother, mother, aunts and cousins. I learned at the age of 7 how to start crocheting (50 years ago). I am quite adequate in crocheting and following patterns, but the young stupid me never really saw the need to question the hook size suggested on the pattern or on the yarn. That is until I had grandbabies and wanted to crochet adorable dresses and hats for my granddaughters. I learned really fast to do a swatch to find the correct size hook to achieve the correct guage. I sent this very blog page to my daughter to see if she would be interested in working on one with me. Your article achieved a great result. It is a project I nor my daughter have to worry about rushing to finish. We’re not locked into a certain color scheme worrying about did we start a new color to early. I have neuropathy in my hands so there are days I can’t crochet for hours on end. My daughter has pins and screws in her dominant hand from breaking it years ago so she is also has limited time to crochet in comfort. For both of us this is the perfect project to work on. I agree that going to a smaller hook is mandatory for me! The reason? EVERYONE crochets different. I crochet looser than most people do, with the end result my projects are larger than the same project my daughter would crochet. With that said using the recommended hook for the yarn to make this temperature blanket, I would be able to use it as a king sized bedspread that hangs to the floor on all four sides including tucking under my pillows by 8 to 12 inches and covering them. NOT IDEAL SIZE TO ME!!!! So thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Some people, myself included suffer from anxiety issues and other panic attack issues and crocheting is a great form of relaxation that eases that. I can pick up my yarn and hook and immediately start to relax and clear my mind for a while. I constantly come to your blog and check out new patterns and tips and advice!!! Please NEVER change the way you approach the way you present yourself or crocheting to your blog. You are our friend!!!! You represent crocheters around the globe. I don’t know about others but if I don’t feel a sense of someones life behind how they write in a blog, I will never return to it. I need to feel their passion and love of what they are teaching, it inspires their blog and their audience!
A 10′ temperature blanket is perfect for a king size bed! I made one for my husband for our first year of marriage, 365X365, plus the border. I don’t know why anyone would say that that was impractical.
Is this in imperial or metric measurements? Thanks
I used Imperial in this case as most of the community follows that. We are Canadian and use Metric but it confuses our AMerican friends.
Mikey, I’m still working on my temperature blanket from 2020. It is obscenely long! I’ve decreased hook size 4 times! I’m stuck in August, as you suggested. It was too warm in RI to continue with this giant blanket on me. I used a combination of FLSC and slip stitch alternating each day. It’s still too big! I love your tutorials, keep up the good work! Lynne
I just read through the comments (this is my second comment). Obscene also means “so excessive as to be offensive”, hence the obscene length of temperature blankets. Other examples would be obscene wealth or obscene waste.
Some people are so quick to use the worst of a definition.
I’m not sure why one has to use Red Heart Super Saver. I personally don’t like that yarn much. If you have a favorite stitch you want to use but the final length is an issue, use a 3 weight yarn instead. Or do granny squares for each month.
I made one for the year 2020 using the chevron pattern. To eliminate the great length, I split it in two…one blanket for Jan-June and another for July-Dec. They turned out perfect size to fit our full size bed.
I did the same. Mine is spring/summer and fall/winter.
Seriously? I have been crocheting since I was about 12 years old and I am 60 now and have never heard of this no offense here but I don’t think anybody really cares whether the colors of the Afghan reflect the current temperatures where are you live. And I can crochet much too fast for that idea. I can do a standard throw in less than a week.
And what would be next choosing crochet color based upon the face of your monthly “Cycle”? Can someone explain where this started and why I am just curious
It’s neat but I really don’t think many people actually follow through all year. I don’t see a huge amount done by the end of the year. However, I think some of it is time but boredom can set in as well.
Elizabeth, temperature scarves/blankets/projects are one way that a climate scientist showed global warming over time. Joan Sheldon, a scientist who created one that spanned centuries, said she found that at science conferences people connected with and reacted quite differently to the textile than to a bar graph of the same data. (Fast Company has an article about it!)
Also, some people crochet as a process, not a product, so taking a year to work on a project bit by bit isn’t a huge deal. Surely in your 48 years of crocheting, you’ve met people who do it for enjoyment and not just an end product. 🙂
And, actually, I once saw a piece of art at a museum that was a chart of a woman’s cycle. This wasn’t a piece of modern art either, but from the early 1800s if I remember correctly. It was a way to keep track before paper calendars were easily accessible! So yes, you could do that too.
It was just meant to be a fun project.
I’ve made several temperature afghans and always find a way to mix it up with the stitches and I don’t just work the temperature. I also stitch the daily condition (sunny, rainy, snowy or cloudy). This year I’m working up the afghan with the millstone stitch and separating each day with black.
I saw a really neat one from 2020 where the person did a small square for each day, combined them to make a larger square for each month and then made the overall blanket into 12 granny squares (3 sq x 4 sq). It really helped with the obscenely over-sized issue.
I’ve been crocheting for over ten years and I never knew about this. This article is great and so very informative. Thank you!
Mikey, please don’t allow the negative Nancy’s dull your shine. Obviously they can’t take things at face value and have to make issue of your simple suggestion from your own personal perspective. Honestly….if they disagree with your method why not just move on? You’ve been both a great teacher and inspiration in my crocheting journey and I am forever grateful for all your tutorials and guidance. I’ve thought about doing a temperature blanket because I’m in Pennsylvania and we have many fluctuations in weather temps. The length would definitely be an issue. Your suggestions were helpful, thank you!
Mikey, it’s your blog, write how you want. It’s nice to find a writer who does not talk only to the LCD, but talks to everyone as if they are sitting at the table together.
The original patterns for the temperature blankets always confused me, because it was as if no one thought out how huge a 365 row blanket would be. Obscene is a great word for those.
The idea to change just hook size is a good one. And I love the applique idea to remember the range. Maybe even adding the numbers in embroidery to know the real ones you used. (I’m in TX, and would need more than 7 blocks of color.)
Thank you for the article.
Why do people need to question the word ‘obscene’? And why are Mikey’s opinions not valid? This is a free service set up by a person who goes above and beyond for us, his followers. Don’t like his wording? Tough! It really offends me that Mikey feels the need to apologise for his wording.
Personally Mikey, I love hearing your opinions and value you for what you do for us. Thank you. Hope you and Dan have a wonderful year!
Obscene? What a horrible word to describe any crocheted/knitted project. Shame on you for lowering yourself to click baiting you articke. Opinions are NOT information, nor helpful, IMHO.
There are more options for getting temperatures. You can get an entire prior year (I requested my birth year) emailed to you, FOR FREE, from NOAA (Tempestry Project, anyone?); the Old Farmer’s Almanac website also has historical data. Not sure if Canada has a similar option or if the two I mentioned are only for the US; I didn’t look, but you guys can.
Also, why no mention of other options such as panels for an afghan, wall hanging (5 panels, 73 rows long) or high/low 2-round granny squares; using #3 or #2 weight yarns? And what about the Linen Stitch instead of SC? Quicker, uses less yarn and is really attractive. Who says an entire row must be one day? Do half rows or how about 24 stitches to equal 24 hours? Great for bulkier yarns. There are WAY more possibilities than mentioned here…a bit more research, perhaps? NONE of these ideas are mine; I Googled and all was revealed. ?
Morning… Firstly… I deserve your criticism. I have made an error to talk to you as if you were my friend sitting beside me. I let my personal feelings get into the blog too closely. You are right, I need to keep it more generic.
I was trying to address the fact that nearly midway through the year, people’s temp blankets become too long. I have seen a person call their blanket obscenely long which is where I got the idea.
You have many great suggestions. My goal was to figure out how to maintain the blanket in Single Crochet Rows but I did give the Linen Stitch at the bottom of the article as you mentioned.
Yes, there are many great ideas of temperature concepts such as strips, table runners, hexagons, granny squares with each round being representative of a week.
My goal in this article was to condense the row height. I have missed the mark in suggesting other concepts as you mentioned. I wasn’t targeting other ideas, just single crochet and linen stitch.
I’m sorry. I’m surprised you didn’t complain about the worksheet missing a section of the temperature. It’s been out for 2 years and it was the first time anyone’s mentioned it. I’m updating it now.
Mikey I for one found nothing you wrote in this article obscene or vulgar. But then even though we have never met through the interesting things and great ideas I have pick up through you I felt we did indeed develop a great friendship. Just because we are not setting in a room together and having coffee that does not change the trust and feelings of being friends. You can consider myself as a friend one who will always back you and always be there for u. Lord knows your tips have saved me lol. Have a wonderful year
Brenda aka Rue
Why should you use such a word as “obscene?” Who mandated that each temperature MUST be a long strip? Each day’s temp could be a hexagon, a granny square, or a square with the design of your choice; keeping them all the same size would make for easy assemblage.
“The world is your oyster ” as the saying goes; you can decide how YOU want your blanket to be designed!
I’m sorry, I have a really bad habit of speaking to this blog as if you are a my friend and speaking in my own language and lingo. I absolutely expect a crocheter to design any project and colour the projects in their own way. Patterns are mere suggestions. Please do what makes you happy and thank you for the reminder to watch my language in speaking more generically. Have a great day. – Michael
What colors did you use between 53 – 67. It doesn’t appear on the chart.
It’s fixed. thanks for the heads up.
I made a temperature blanket for my 60th birthday. I wanted to give it a try, I’m still working on the border. The blanket is big enough for a king sized bed. The joke was on me, didn’t realize the weight and how big the blanket is. Not complaining?. Not making another one. Good thing is, it’s very comfy.
I loved it ? I learned the basics from my grandmother I would like to learn more