a Crochet Temperature Blanket - Collection of mixed blanket crochet stitches

How to start a temperature blanket for a beginner

How to choose the right yarn for a temperature blanket

I strongly recommend a lightweight yarn (category 3 yarn), also referred to as DK weight or Double knitting yarn.

The recommended gauge for this crochet pattern worked flat is;
12 sts  x 6 rows = 6cm x 5 cm / 2.3 x 1.9 inches square in half double crochet stitches.

Select a yarn and yarn brand that is easily accessible to you, and make sure you note which colors are readily available, so you can stock up on colors if you run out. Take note that all climates differ so your color choice and your area temperatures will determine how many skeins per color you will need, and your color requirements might not match those of others.

If you wish to use a different weighted yarn like a medium-weight yarn (category 4 yarn) also known as worsted weight yarn, your blanket sizing will be different, for more on resizing see the resizing section below.

Select yarn colors for a temperature blanket

Use a predefined crochet temperature blanket color swatch

I have created 4 preset color swatches which are included in the downloadable pattern, the table below shows a quick example of the temperature range included in the printable color swatch templates, these color swatches consist of 12 different yarn colors.

Colors in tables are a mere indication, you can pick your colors and yarn as you wish, I write patterns for the love of writing patterns and sharing my skill, and not to sell or promote a certain type of yarn or yarn brand, so do appreciate every sale of this pattern as it helps me to design and write more patterns.

This crochet pattern includes the following printable templates

Cold weather climate Temperature Blanket Color swatch in Fahrenheit
Warm weather climate Temperature Blanket Color swatch in Fahrenheit
Cold weather climate Temperature Blanket Color swatch in Celsius
Warm weather climate Temperature Blanket Color swatch in Celsius
Most people tend to want to use a temperature blanket with a range already decided for them, but sometimes the range of someone else is not always relevant to your climate, you might live in a very cold climate and won't even use some of the warmer colors, or you might be like me and live in a very warm climate and then not have any of the cooler colors featured in your blanket, so if you wish to create a blanket as uniquely to you and your climate you can 

Select your own custom temperature range and make a temperature blanket color swatch based on your area.

If you wish to create your own temperature color swatch, you will need to start by knowing the highest and lowest average daily temperature for your area.

The best practice perhaps is to look at the previous year's temperatures, this will give you a good indication of the temperature of the year to come. I suggest visiting your favorite weather website and making a quick note of the highest and lowest daily average temperatures for each month.

This will give you at least 12 months' worth of information on the min and maximum temperatures, for your area and a great starting point for planning your blanket.

Doing a bit of homework helps you have a better idea of the range of temperatures, and will save you some money in the long run as you won't have skeins of yarn colors that are left over or not even used once your blanket is complete.

Below is a table example as included in the printable pattern templates that allows you to jot down your previous maximum and minimum temperatures, here I added my area's highest temperature for each month as well as the lowest temperature for each month.

The table above shows my highest temperature of 37°C ( Max) and  lowest of 15°C (Min)

Choosing the colors for your custom temperature blanket color swatch

Using the table above you can now see what the overall min and max temperatures are for your area, the color choice is completely up to you, if you wish to have a lot of color variations in your rows then use one color per temperature, if you live in a climate where there is a huge temperature shift and have a large temperature range then perhaps consider changing colors every 2 to 3° degrees.
 

Selecting your temperature blanket size

Yarn usage is based on the size of the blanket you wish to make, this pattern uses a 3.5mm crochet hook, and the final length on using this hook is 300m / 118 inches, this makes for a great-sized bedspread, I have written this pattern so that your length of the blanket stays the same, but you can extend and widen the width of the blanket to accommodate for larger bed sizes.

How do I make a crochet temperature blanket that is not overtly lengthy and bulky?

Remember that making a temperature blanket requires 365/6 of rows to be made for the year, so the final blanket has a long length, but I have done my best to size this blanket so that it still ends up in a functional usable size. For the example blanket, used for making this pattern, I used a 3.5mm crochet hook, and double knit yarn so if you want to use a bigger hook and different yarn weight please take note of the sizing chart and how to create a gauge swatch information below, this section will assist you in getting the right size blanket for your blanket size requirements.

Make a gauge swatch for a crochet temperature blanket.

If you wish to use a different weighted yarn other than the recommended yarn weight you can resize your blanket and find the correct number of starting chains by doing the following.

• Make a gauge swatch 
• Chain 12 sts work 6 rows of 1 hdc/ half double crochet stitches into each stitch, and finish off the swatch
• Measure the gauge square width.
• Use the sizing table provided in the pattern to determine your starting chains required. 

For example, if you have a swatch of 2.5 inches / 6.3 cm wide, and you wish to make a blanket with the width of a twin bed, then chain 290 sts, if you would want a king-size blanket and have a switch size of 3 inches then best to chain 434 sts, note that sizing chart excludes the final order width.

If you prefer a heavier and way larger hook, you can still enjoy and make the blanket but then I would suggest rather opting for two separate blankets.
 

Keeping track of your progress when making a crochet temperature blanket

The best practice to keep track of such a large crochet project is to make notes as you go along, the downloadable temperature blanket makes it very easy to keep track of your progress dates and daily temperature, and the pattern includes a wide variety of printable templates, for you to manage your progress, each row of the pattern has a allocated column where you can easily jot down the date and temperature for each row.