Temperature Blanket Starter Pack

In January, Cara Davis’s post about her temperature blanket projects struck a deep chord with lovers of simple knitting projects with a sense of adventure. Kay heard the call, and embarked on her own temperature blanket for 2022, choosing a favorite yarn with a legendary color range: Rowan Felted Tweed.

The recipe is simple. Kay started with the cast-on number and instructions for Kaffe Fassett’s generous Garter Stripe Shawl from MDK Field Guide No. 13: Master Class. But instead of following the pattern’s stripe chart, she let the daily high temperature in New York City determine the color of the single garter ridge she would knit for each day of the year.

A look at local weather history revealed that the temperatures should range from below 19 to over 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Kay assigned a shade of Felted Tweed to each 4-degree increment in that range.

Here’s her complete 21-shade card:

19 degrees or lower: Clay

20-23: Alabaster

24-27: Scree

28-31: Seafarer

32-35: Seasalter

36-39: Maritime

40-43: Delft

44-47: Ciel

48-51: Fjord

52-55: Vaseline Green

56-59: Electric Green

60-63: Lime

64-67: Cumin

68-71: Mineral

72-75: Sulfur

76-79: Pink Bliss

80-83: Barbara

84-87: Zinnia

88-91: Ginger

92-95: Scarlet

95 or higher: Rage

January and February of 2022 gave the cool colors a workout.

Knitters embraced the idea, and asked for a temperature blanket kit. Which is tricky, since knitters live all over the place, in regions with vastly different temperature ranges.

After much deep and colorful thought, we hit upon a flexible solution: a starter pack. The large pack—22 skeins—is all 21 of Kay’s shade card colors, plus one extra ball of the hardworking center color, Electric Green. The large pack works well for a four-season climate, and can be adapted for locations with more consistent temperatures. (One way is to divide the colors up into narrower degree bands.)

We also divided the full starter pack into two smaller packs of 11 colors—warm and cool. This gives you the option of starting in the winter with the cool pack, and adding yarn—a warm pack, or single balls of other colors—as you knit through the year. It also lets you concentrate on warmer or cooler colors if those temperatures dominate your local climate.

It’s not a perfect solution. Depending on the weather—a heat wave or deep freeze, for example—you may have to add a few balls to finish your blanket. It’s a starter pack, not necessarily a finisher pack!

Think of these as a fresh box of crayons at the beginning of a new school year, full of potential for joy.

Temperature Blanket Starter Packs are priced at 10 percent off the single-ball price of Felted Tweed.

Your purchase confirmation email will come with a free PDF download of MDK Field Guide No. 13: Master Class, which includes the pattern for the Garter Stripe Shawl.

We’d love to see your temperature blanket! Get resources, support, and inspiration in the MDK Lounge.