January in Color - An Afghan Update

 I couldn't have picked a better year to crochet a temperature afghan.

A temperature blanket uses colors to record highs and low temperatures (more on that later) over a certain period of time.  They can be used to record temperatures for a year, perhaps a calendar year, or the first year of a baby's life (to be presented as a birthday gift).   Some knit these, some quilt these.  Some make scarfs or sweaters.  The variations are endless.

So, in other words, Nature determines the colors and patterns of your work.

This year has been so unusual (both in temperature and in lack of snowfall) and you'll see what happened as a result in a minute when I show you what Nature told me to crochet for January 2023, where I live in the Binghamton, New York area.

On January 1, I started to record temperatures.  I also did some reading up and found out there's a large temperature blanket community out there.  I avoided some mistakes through reading their experiences but made some of my own.

The picture I am showing you at the bottom of this post is the afghan showing the month of January, 2023, recording high temperatures only. Yes, I'm a bit behind but I don't work on it consistently.

My errors

1. I researched the approximate number of stitches I would need to use.  But because math isn't my strength, I made the blanket wider than I wanted.  I decided not to frog it (rip it out).  I'll just live with it.  It will just cost me some extra yarn to be purchased.

Also, I realized right away that if I did rows for both high and low temperatures, I would end up with one huge afghan.  I had to decide on low temperatures only or high temperatures only.  I made the decision to record high temperatures only with one exception - February 4, which had a low of -5F (-25.6 C) and a high of 19F (-7.2 C).  Both high and low will be recorded for that date.

2.  It's a little ripply - in other words, it doesn't lie flat.  I think it may have been because I made the foundation chain a bit too tight.  I'm hoping it will straighten itself out.  I feel like this is a beginner's mistake but again, I decided not to frog my work.  It won't keep me any less warm at night.

3.  It's a little harder than I thought it would be.  But I am not minding at all.   My spouse, who loves weather and picking colors, has participated in these selections and recording while I am doing all the crocheting.  It's become a team effort. 

Perhaps only where I live, there's a shortage of crochet hooks and yarn.  At the store I purchased yarn at, I was told that there has been a strong surge in crochet lately.

Although I've been crocheting since the fall of 1970, there is always something new to learn.

These are the colors I am using, based on a crochet chart developed by a yarn manufacturer for New York City.

0 F (-17.8 C) and lower:  Pale Plum.  It would be most unusual where Iive to have a high less than zero, but I had already bought this when I realized I wouldn't have room to record lows through crochet.

1-21F   Dark orchid

21-32F  Royal blue

33-43F  Turquoise

44-53F  Spring Green

54-66F  Kelly Green (think of St. Patrick's Day)

67-77F  Bright Yellow

78-88F Carrot orange

89-99F  ?

100F (38C) and above - ?

(colors for hotter temperatures not chosen yet- I probably won't need them until May).

So, what happened in January?  We had a lot of days where the high ranged between 33 to 43F (0.5 C to 6.1C) (turquoise) so there is a lot of turquoise.  This stretch of weather is not usual for us, but we had several short spells of even warmer temperatures, shown by the light (spring) green and darker (paddy) green.

February will have more variations in color.

Thank you, quilter displaying her temperature afghans at Salt Springs State Park in Pennsylvania for the Susquehanna Art Trail for talking to me at length about her work.  You started me on an interesting journey.