Demystifying Temperature Blankets, Part One

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Demystifying Temperature Blankets Series Introduction

Temperature blankets are very popular right now and I believe some need more guidance in starting their project. To help fill this need, I am beginning a three part series called “Demystifying Temperature Blankets.” I hope the series can help those looking to start a temperature project. I will try to make the series helpful for not just crocheters, but also to knitters and quilters. It’s hard to cover all options in a project meant for personal variations, so if I don’t describe one you might want to use, use it! If you’re unsure I’m willing to answer any questions you might have.

The three parts will be:

1. Picking a temperature range (this post)
2. Picking yarns or materials
3. Picking stitches or methods

Without further ado, let’s start making our temperature ranges!

 

 

What temperatures do I use?

To get the juices flowing, possible temperatures you could use are the high, the low, both, the average, or even the temperature at a certain time each day.

You can get these temperatures from various sources, even if you’re getting temperatures to make a historical temperature project.

Here’s a few places to find temperatures in the US:

• National Weather Service
• Accuweather (also international)
• Weather Underground (also international)
• Intellicast (also international)

I even tried to find some for my international readers:

• Met Office (UK)
• Canada National Weather
• Australian National Weather
• German weather (in English apparently or my browser translated without me noticing)

 

How do I make my temperature range?

The best way to make your temperature range would be to first research the historical climate data for your location (see above resources). You could also record past temperatures into a computer spreadsheet and figure out the typical temperatures that way. The latter way is how I planned out the temperatures for my anniversary blanket.

Here’s the steps I used to make the temperature ranges that follow:

1. Find the average highs and lows for each month and record the highest high and the lowest low
2. Add 5 or 10 degrees onto the top and bottom of each range (maybe only 3 or 5 degrees in Celcius)
3. Evenly space out temperatures into 10 slots (more or less if you want, it may get tweaked when you pick your yarn/materials)

I’ll use Nashville, IN as an example on how to figure this out.

1. Highest high average was 86, lowest low average was 19
2. Top of range will be 100+, bottom of range will be below 10
3. Final range (top to bottom, divided 90 between 8 slots):
   1. 100+
   2. 87-99
   3. 76-86
   4. 65-75
   5. 54-64
   6. 42-53
   7. 31-41
   8. 20-30
   9. 10-19
   10. Below 10

To help you out, I made up some possible temperature ranges for several locations. It became VERY hard for me to keep the list relatively short because there were so many places (especially internationally) for which I was excited to make a temperature range simply out of curiosity.

(US locations are in F, all others are in C)

San Diego, CA, USA

• Highest: 78
• Lowest: 49

Range

1. Above 90
2. 83-90
3. 77-82
4. 71-76
5. 65-70
6. 58-64
7. 52-57
8. 46-51
9. 40-45
10. Below 40

Eureka, CA, USA

• Highest: 64
• Lowest: 41

Range

1. Above 80
2. 72-79
3. 66-71
4. 60-65
5. 54-59
6. 47-53
7. 41-46
8. 35-40
9. 29-34
10. Below 30

Nenana, AK, USA

• Highest: 73
• Lowest: (-17)

Range (a very wide one!)

1. Above 80
2. 66-80
3. 53-65
4. 40-52
5. 27-39
6. 14-26
7. 1-13
8. (-11)-0
9. (-25)-(-10)
10. Below (-25)

Honolulu, Hawai’i, USA

• Highest: 89
• Lowest: 65

Range

1. Above 100
2. 94-100
3. 88-93
4. 83-87
5. 77-82
6. 71-76
7. 66-70
8. 60-65
9. 55-59
10. Below 55

Cardiff, Wales, UK

• Highest: 20
• Lowest: 2

Range

1. Above 25
2. 21-25
3. 18-20
4. 15-17
5. 12-14
6. 8-11
7. 5-7
8. 2-4
9. (-1)-1
10. Below (-1)

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

• Highest: 28
• Lowest: 7

Range

1. Above 33
2. 29-33
3. 25-28
4. 21-24
5. 17-20
6. 13-16
7. 9-12
8. 5-8
9. 2-4
10. Below 2

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

(This is where my husband and I “first” met. I couldn’t decide between this and PEI of Anne of Green Gables fame.)

• Highest: 22
• Lowest: (-9)

Range

1. Above 27
2. 21-27
3. 16-20
4. 11-15
5. 6-10
6. 1-5
7. (-3)-0
8. (-8)-(-2)
9. (-14)-(-9)
10. Below (-14)

Any other places, I can help make a range if it gets too difficult or you just want me to do the work.

 

What about the colors for my temperature blanket?

Now is when we get to the really fun part of this step! That is, unless you like numbers more.

The colors you pick for your project are only limited by your imagination.  These color schemes won’t necessarily be set in stone. You might end up coming back and changing some because you find a certain color yarn or fabric that simply MUST be put in your project. It’s okay if you do. I’m guilty of that. It’s part of how I ended up with so many colors in my anniversary blanket.

I’ll give you a few basic color schemes to jump start your thinking.

Monochromatic

• All different shades of one color
  • Blacks, grays, and whites (these are sort of all the same color)
  • All greens OR blues OR your favorite color

(Buy the same color wheel here) (affiliate link)

Rainbow

• From red as hot to purple as cold
• Only the one variation if you want a true rainbow
  • Can change tints or shades of each color to personalize
  • Can leave colors out (like I left green out of my Super Saver rainbow)

Favorite colors

• Pick your favorite colors and use different shades among each color
• Or you can pick 2 or 4 colors that are complementary colors or a tetrad and then pick shades of each needed to fill range

Completely Random

• Pick a random color to represent each range
  • This will be easier to do after the materials are picked
  • After materials are picked, assign a chosen yarn or fabric to each slot

 

Conclusion

You should now have a temperature range with which to work as you create your own temperature blanket project. Yay!

If you would like more help or a personalized temperature range, leave a comment or email me. I’ll do my best to help you out.

 

I have posted Demystifying Temperature Blankets, Part Two in which I discuss how to choose your yarn or fabric.