I will be posting information for a crochet-along for a temperature blanket for 2023. Stay tuned here for patterns collected from Ravelry and other sources in order to create a 6×6 afghan of 12″ squares. This will make a nice bed cover for a full or queen size bed.

Supplies:

• J/6.0mm hook
• Collection of yarn in a spectrum of colors (your choice, but I recommend having at least 10 colors)
• Charts to track temperatures

I will be posting information charts and patterns soon.

This is what my intentions are for this CAL…..

I will provide….

• Recommendations on a layout for 12″ squares
• Options for colorways and gauges, but you are free to set up your own
• 12″ square recommendations
• Tips and tricks as we go

The 12″ square pattern suggestions will be collected from Ravelry and/or the Moogly CAL. The Moogly CAL has been going on for several years, if you are not aware of it. They release a pattern for a 12″ square every two weeks. This is what gave me the idea for doing this CAL. I will be selecting squares that might lend themselves more for up to 10-11 colors. However, since weather occurs in cycles, it is likely that you will have a few days that will need the same color and that you will not need to use 10 different colors. For example, Day 1: 72 | Day 2: 73 | Day 3: 73 | Day 4: 80 | Day 5: 81 | Day 6: 80 | Day 7: 82 | Day 8: 83 | Day 9: 83 | Day 10: 85 – Depending on the gauge you use, this may end up only being 3-5 colors needed! The example above shows 5 colors that occurred over a 10-day period.

You can choose to…

• Use the colors in order from inside to outside (first day is the first round)
• Reverse the colors so the center shows the most recent (so, round 1 is actually day 10, then day 9, etc)
• Once you know the colors generated for the 10 days, put them in any combination/order

I will most likely go with option 3 myself. The idea is to represent the color “feeling” of the 10 days in a square, but still have control over color placement.

Here we go!! Square recommendation #1 is appropriately named “Resilience” and designed by Polly Plum. This design was originally created for the Moogly CAL 2021. I am posting the Ravelry link here to that you can save it to your library, but the Ravelry page for Resilience also has a link to Polly Plum’s blog link.

Remember, gather the high temperatures for January 1st-10th. Use those assigned colors to complete the square using worsted weight/4 yarn and a J/6.0 hook. Unless you crochet tightly or loosely, it SHOULD be 12″. However, if it is a little smaller or large, if you continue to use the same weight yarn and hook throughout, it should not matter too much.

I will be waiting until January 11th to start square #1 so that I can decide the color order. If you are wanting to start with day 1 in the middle, you can get started, but remember that you may be doing MORE THAN ONE ROUND for a day to make the pattern/square 12″.

Resilience has a total of 12 rounds in the pattern. 

Finally have all my yarn and was able to get my first square finished. Hard to get the true colors with a camera, but here it is. Will have to try with natural light and see if I can get a better representation.

I have now finished both my Resilience (Jan 1-10) and my Mayanna (Jan 11-21) squares and joined them. By the next square I have to decide if I am going to place them horizontally or diagonally. I am pleased with how they are coming out so far. We will see with the next week as it SHOULD be warmer, and then more rain coming next weekend.

Also, after completing my Mayanna square it came out much larger than the Resilience, so I went back and added two rows of hdc around to make them more similar in size. if anyone else is following this CAL, you may also have to do the same from time to time. That is why I like the “looseness” of this year’s plan – using the assigned colors, but not in a particular order still shows the temperature feeling of the 10 days without relying on being diligent an rows or rounds per day. My Resilience shows colder weather than my Mayanna, but not by a lot. Although I will say that blue seems colder than the assigned purples!

Now, I also need to decide on what my upper colors will be. I created two options and won’t need to commit until I have a temperature that occurs in the upper range. The one on the left is a more traditional spectrum with some pinks. The one on the right has pinks instead of yellow, orange, and red. I am a cool color fan and so am leaning toward the one on the right.

But I am also considering starting a second one in daily squares that show high, average, low. But, I have a tendency to start projects and not finish.

This is the high, average, low chart that I would probably be working with.