I know that conventional wisdom says January is never ending but I’m still struggling to believe it is February already. I don’t feel quite ready to emerge from my winter cocoon just yet.
But I did want to show you the progress on my 2026 Temperature Blanket which is a kind of mash up of twin loves - Mitered Squares and Temperature Blankets.
In short I wanted to knit another year-long blanket project but I didn’t want to subject myself to any more knitting than was absolutely necessary - mindful of what happened with my 2020 project.
And so the idea of mitered squares was born - with one tiny square for each day. Much more manageable, much more achievable, much more portable.
THE DETAILS
Each square is 10 sts by 10sts with a paired central ssk/k2tog at the centre of each RS row. and takes about 10 minutes to knit (yay).
Each square measures 14.5cm (unblocked) and I am knitting each month as a panel of 6x5 squares - I’ll come up with a fudge for the non-30 day months but as luck would have it this month, the 30th/31st January were both 8 degrees (C).
Each panel is approx 27cm x 22.5cm and I think this will grow a bit on blocking.
I’m estimating that the finished blanket (arranged in 3x4 squares) will be 90cm x 92cm (36” by 36”) but I am also planning to add a border around each panel and then around the whole thing which will add to it a little more.
That’s my cunning plan anyway.
YARN CHOICE
In terms of yarn choice I am using Yarnsmiths merino DKhouse.co.uk/yarn/yarnsmiths-merino-dk-superwash-all-colours which is a superwash yarn with a fabulous array of colours to choose from. It comes in 50g balls which is handy as some of the colours might not see very much use and I don’t want to have masses of leftovers (50g ball has 110m/120yds).
My scale is in 2 degree (C) increments and so far I am happy with how it is working up, although I do need to decide on some colours for the higher end - thankfully we are a few months away from needing those.
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As my own 2020 Temperature Blanket drew to a close I found I wasn't ready to say goodbye to it altogether. It's was quite the year - to say the least (and 2021 has continued in the same vein) and knitting this blanket gave me so much comfort and support during some very unsettling times. During the year-long project I have learned a lot and there are definitely a few things I would do differently if I ever did this again.
In essence, this e-book is the resource I wish I had, before I started.
I wanted to create a resource for those who'd like to knit their own Temperature Blanket and this 19 page e-book contains tips, suggestions and resources such as:
Working out a temperature scale
Yarn choice
Estimation of yardage
Size and gauge
Choosing colours
Ideas for construction
Like any big project the idea of starting a Temperature Blanket can seem a little daunting. Decisions on yarn, needles, colours, temperature scales etc - can all seem a little overwhelming. But the ebook is here to help and you are very welcome to join our dedicated Discord group too.
For this project I used fingering weight yarn with 3.25mm needles, however no yarn recommendations are given here - the choice of yarn/needles used is entirely up to the knitter and the type of year-long project they wish to create.
