2018 Temperature Blanket project.

Have you heard of the Temperature Blanket project?

Well, quite simply it is a row of crochet (or knitting, if you prefer) each day, matching the colour of the yarn to what the temperature is that day.

If you Google 'Temperature Blanket' you will come up with load of ideas and patterns, but if you would like to join in with mine then please feel free   :)

I have set up a Facebook group so we can all share our progress as we go along - you can find it HERE, just click the JOIN button.

So, we are going to make this one in 8 colours - it is impossible to know just how much you will use of each as each day might be different, so one ball of each is a good place to start, buying more as you might need it.

I chose to do mine in Stylecraft Special DK, which is a gorgeous soft acrylic yarn in delicious colours.  These are....Matador, Tomato, Grass Green, Lime, Aspen, Petrol, Emperor and Magenta.

I have devised my own temperature chart to go with these colours, basing it on the UK weather system.  Hopefully at some point we will get to use all the colours.

A little bit about my design idea then....... some people quite fancy the idea of doing a blanket, but if you do a row a day, you are looking at a 356 row blanket, which if you are using Trebles is going to be rather large.  Large is ok if you want large of course, but it's also quite a commitment in time, so my plan is to work four separate pieces and join them at the end.  It means that we will work for 364 days as it's dividable by four  :)

We shall call them "Quarters".  We will need to 'borrow' days from other quarters to make the pattern fit, but I will remind you of that as we progress - so don't worry about it now.

Jan / Feb / Mar (90 days)  (Quarter 1 - Lowest Temp)
Apr / May / Jun (91 days)  (Quarter 2 - Highest Temp )
Jul / Aug / Sep (92 days)  (Quarter 3 - Highest Temp)
Oct / Nov / Dec (92 days  (Quarter 4 - Lowest Temp)

So, how to check your temps.  To get the most out of each colour, I suggest taking either a low or high temp reading for each quarter as shown above.  If you were to pop over to the Met Office Website and put in your area, you will get both a low and high reading for that day.  (or you can use any weather apps you might have on your phone.)

And here are the colour rules..... so, as you can see from above, the temp for Carlisle today was a low of 3 degrees and a high of 8 degrees.  As we will be working on Quarter no:1 we will use the LOW number.

3 degrees on the colour chart means you would use PETROL for this particular day.

If you find you do not have time one day to do your row, DON'T PANIC, just jot down the temp for that day and play catch up when you do have time.

The pattern!   Finally, we have come to the part where the pattern is revealed.  As promised, it is a very easy pattern, basically just stripes, but every Sunday we shall pop a different row of stitches in so you can see your weeks work build up, I think that would be quite nice.

So.... shall we begin?

I choose to use a 4mm crochet hook, it is my hook of choice for DK yarn, but you may wish to use a 4.5mm or a 3.5mm - whatever you are most comfortable with.

We will be using the HTR stitch, which works like this......  Yarn round hook, insert hook into stitch, pull yarn back (3 loops on hook). Yarn round and draw through all three loops.

FOUNDATION ROW:

Chain 93, work a HTR into the 3rd chain from the hook and HTR into each chain following.  (91 stitches)  Leave yarn attached just in case tomorrow is the same colour  :)

FOLLOWING ROWS:  (not Sunday)

Ch 2, HTR into the BACK loop only of each stitch.

If you are not familiar with using the back loop of the stitch, let me show you where it is.
When you put your hook through your stitch you usually get two strands of yarn above your hook (ignore the one already on there)

We will just be using the back loop of each stitch, the one marked by the green thread.  It gives a lovely ridged finish to the work.

Do a stitch count every so often to make sure you keep to the 91 stitches, otherwise you will end up with a triangle  :)

Tomorrow, I will show you how to join a new yarn colour.

I will pop back in a few days with Sunday's row.

Happy hooking!!

Owl Obsession Crochet Blanket

I don't think I ever showed you my second Owl Obsession blanket. I made it a wee while ago now when Granddaughter Hope was going into a big girl's bed and needed a bigger blanket.

I used the James C Brett Woodlander yarn in shade L8.

I edged them with a sparkly glittery pale pink yarn.

Lots of little owls appearing.

And more... they breed quickly!

I mentioned it was the second one of these I made, the first one I made for a colleague who was leaving work to have a baby.  I did that one in a Rainbow Glitz yarn edged with white.

This new one was a set of owls wider and a set of owls longer, perfect size for a toddler bed.

And the toddler seems to approve  :)

A C2C (Corner to Corner) crochet Duck panel

Just one of those evenings when you need to fiddle with something, but inspiration has escaped and ran down the road.

I went to search through my laptop for my "things I must try" list and found nothing that inspired me there.  But then, accidentally, I clicked on the icon for my Cross-Stitch designer - I used to design and sell the odd Cross-Stitch pattern about 12 years ago.   

So I was browsing through them when I found a group of Farmyard Animals that I had done.  after a little editing, I printed out a pattern suitable for a C2C panel.  I went and dug some yarn out of my stash and got to work.

Can you tell what it is yet?  Oh yeah, a Duck - because I told you that already!

I put a photo on my Facebook page and got all sorts of random answers - a Mario Mushroom, Angry Birds, Pokemon, Christmas Tree (!!), Dragon.... I can see where most of them were coming from.

Oh, and an eye appears.

Ahhh, and then we have a Duck... but also a huge issue!  I ran out of yarn!!   And as it was from my stash, and unbanded, I have no idea what it was or where it was from.  It is a strange lillacy blue colour too so no hope of matching it.

So, now I am deciding whether to pull it all out, just put it in the bin, or add a totally different coloured corner.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Everest blanket for Derek Eland / Artist on Everest

It was a good while ago that I made "The Everest Blanket" for artist Derek Eland.

Each section of the blanket was taken from a photograph that Derek took whilst he was "Artist on Everest"

I crocheted four rows in each sitting, using the colours from one photo at a time.

The split photos before show the photo of Derek's that I worked from along side the crochet I created from those colours that jumped out at me.

And then it was done! A riot of glorious colour.  If I had have told you I was making a blanket based on colours from the photos taken on Mount Everest, would you have expected it to be so colourful?   No, me neither.  White, grey and blue I expected.

As I say, it has been a while since I made this and it has now gone to it's new home in Derek's house, but there is an exhibition of Derek's amazing work on Everest.  It is at Rheged and is on from SATURDAY 29 APRIL – SUNDAY 2 JULY 2017l

If you can, do take the time to go and see it, it is free entry and I am sure it will blow you away.

https://www.rheged.com/event/derek-eland-being-human-at-base-camp/