Temperature Stitching – What Is It, Actually? (My Story)

I saw my first Temperature Blankets on Facebook a few years back. “A Temperature Blanket? What is that?” I wondered. The blankets were beautiful, and as I saw more, I noticed that the colours on the blankets were never the same. One person had lots of blues and greens in theirs…while another person had more orange and red. Some had neither of those colours, but rather different shades of pinks and greys. Intrigued, I looked into it some more…and I was instantly hooked on the concept!

For a “Coles Notes version” of What Is Temperature Stitching?, click here. If you’d like to know more about my journey into Temperature Stitching, read on…

A Temperature Blanket is a blanket that is knitted or crocheted like any ordinary blanket. BUT the difference is that there is a story behind every stitch…a Temperature Story.

The colours used on the blanket have a meaning. They correspond with the temperatures of a certain location over a certain period of time. Typically each row represents one day, and the colour for that row is chosen based on the temperature for that day. Some people record the high temperature of each day…some might record the average temperature…some even make their blankets more interesting by stitching half a row based on the high temperature for the day and half the row based on the low temperature for the day.

A lot of people, but not everyone by any means, use different shades of blue for colder temperatures, and yellows, oranges, and reds for hotter temperatures, creating an eye-catching pattern as the year goes through the different seasons.

One blanket that I saw had three “columns” on it, depicting the temperature colours for three different cities during the same year – two cities were in the northern United States and the third was a city way down deep in the southern states. The colour pattern of the first two was similar (but each with its own variations), with colours ranging from blues through greens and into the warmer colours of yellows and oranges, and then back through the greens and blues again to end off the year. But that third city, the one way down south, it was in a world of its own! Pretty much all yellows, oranges and reds. Not a blue stitch to be found! Same year, different locations…totally different outcomes.

This particular blanket represented the cities where a mom and her two daughters lived. Other blankets are made to highlight someone’s birthplace and year. Others highlight a wedding year. How about the year you took that once in a lifetime trip to somewhere exotic? The list goes on. Any special event can be highlighted…or a blanket can be stitched to represent a year just because, no reason needed.

That’s the basic concept of the Temperature Blanket, but variations abound! Instead of stitching one row per day, some people choose to create a smaller blanket by stitching a granny square for each month, with the days of the month inside the square. Some people stitch hexagons or flowers and then attach them together to make the blanket. The sky’s the limit!

Now, here came my dilemma!

I loved the concept, but could I really stitch a whole blanket? Knit? Maybe. I’ve been dabbling in knitting since I was young. How do you get all those stitches on a knitting needle, though? Hmmm. Crochet? Possibly. But I only learned how to crochet recently…would I even be able to keep those edges straight, or would my blanket end up looking like the waves of the ocean?? Okay, it would have to be knitting. But really, my expertise in knitting ended at a washcloth. This project just seemed really daunting. Then I saw it…someone had stitched a Temperature Scarf. Not a blanket, but a scarf! That would be more my speed! It’s just a longer version of a washcloth, right? I picked out my colours, decided which location and year to highlight, and off I went.

I knitted a couple of rows and then came to a new temperature. “Cool, I get to change colours.” I knitted some more, changing colours as I went along. As I changed colours, I left the ends hanging so I could come back to weave them in later. After quite some time I was becoming aware that I was going to have a LOT of ends to weave in. Changing colour mid-blanket (or mid-anything) is not a new concept…I have a striped blanket that my Grandmother crocheted for me decades ago. But it was a new concept to me. And the location that I chose to highlight on this scarf had A LOT of temperature variation (aka a lot of colour changes).

If you are a knitter/crocheter I’m sure this would not be an issue for you – as proven by all of the colourful blankets that I see everywhere. But it was an issue for me. Did I mention that when I knit dishcloths, weaving in the ends of the finished product is my least favourite part of the project? And there are only TWO of them on a dishcloth! I also didn’t love the particular knit stitch that I had chosen to use – my scarf just didn’t look pretty like the blankets and scarves that I had seen online. I laid my partially completed scarf aside and thought, “Maybe one day”.

I still enjoyed the Temperature Blanket Facebook group because I loved seeing the beautiful blankets that everyone was creating, and I still loved the concept.

One day I saw someone post a Temperature Snake. Hmmm…cool idea! For the grandkids? Still gotta deal with those pesky yarn ends, though. Actually, maybe those yarn ends hide inside the snake! Oh, but it probably uses a Magic Ring (haven’t perfected one of those yet…or the concept of keeping track of my rows when going around in circles) – sigh* Scrolling further…Wait! What is this?? A Temperature Cross Stitch?? How can it be? Now, that is something that I can wrap my head around! I was thrilled! Cross stitching really is my hobby. Knitting and crocheting are definitely fun for me to dabble with…but cross stitching is where it’s at for me. Now I could combine my love of cross stitching with my love of the Temperature Blanket concept. And here we are!

Temperature Cross Stitching uses this same concept of recording the temperatures of a certain location over a certain period of time using colour.

But instead of ending up with a blanket (or scarf or snake or other knitted/crocheted item), we end up with a picture. A cross stitched picture. A picture that tells a temperature story. There are many Temperature Cross Stitch patterns available, with designs suitable for all tastes. Visit our Etsy shop to see our selection here.

A Temperature project is a fun project to do…it gives purpose to the stitching.

“Stitches With A Story To Tell”, we always say! It’s a clever concept, a terrific way to see the ebb and flow of temperatures, which in turn creates a uniquely coloured, personalized end product. These projects can be stitched year after year, using different locations and/or years, producing a different end result every time. They also make great gifts! A friend once said that it was the most thoughtful gift that anyone had every given her. People appreciate the time and effort put into a homemade gift!

The great thing about temperature projects is that even if you decide that you’d like to start one now…now being the middle of May, rather than January 1… and you haven’t recorded the temperatures from January 1 up until now, that’s okay! There are online websites that offer historical weather data…the temperature information is readily available.

And if you want to set your stitching aside for a while because, like me, you live where the air freezes your face for six months of the year, and you want to be out enjoying the warm temperatures while you can, you can come back to your project and update the temperatures that you missed. There’s also no set rule that your project needs to go from January 1 to December 31 of any given year. There’s nothing wrong if September to September has meaning for you, or March to March is what you want.

Do you love to stitch? Do you knit? Or crochet? Or cross stitch? Or do embroidery? Or a bit of everything?

I’ve seen the temperature colour concept used in all of these stitching applications! So if this is something that is new to you, why not give it a try! While I focus on cross stitching, I will definitely be touching on other areas of stitching, as well. And though I got started in this endeavor because I love the Temperature Stitching concept, we will also be diving into other areas of stitching along the way (and maybe some non-stitching, as well). I would love if you followed along with me on this journey. You might learn something new. Or just come along for the ride. I’m SURE that I will be learning new things on the way…I look forward to your input and suggestions. And let’s have fun!

Carol