Temperature Scarf ...

Editing this post to say that the Temperature project written about below was ditched.  I leave this post here since I did give it a go, and later posts show my progress toward making my decision to stop.

A few days ago I spent some time figuring out how to do a 1-month temperature scarf/shawl.  It was not as easy as I thought it would be.  But never one to shirk from taking a simple crochet project and making it complicated, I set myself to the task.

Let me explain my reasoning for even doing a temperature scarf (instead of a blanket).  The main reason is because Our Happy CAL Place is hosting a Temperature CAL this year and I didn't want to miss out on the fun.

But not for one minute believing I had the fortitude, commitment, capability, okay... discipline to intentionally make a blanket slowly over the course of the year, I knew jumping into making  a Temperature Blanket was something I should, without hesitation, say no to.  And I did.  For about 2 days.   Then there was talk of some making temperature scarves and that idea appealed to me, but I still didn't think I could keep interest in it over the course of a year.

Then inspiration struck!

I would make a temperature scarf over the course of one month.  Thirty-one days.  I can do anything for 31 days!  When I first thought of this, I imagined a pretty scarf where the colors might shift subtly because January doesn't change all that much normally.  I mean, it's cold.  It's usually snowy.  And it's cold.  There's just not much else to say about January in Indiana.   I could probably make a scarf in 3 or 4 colors!  And I could spread those colors out over the say, 40 degree range we might have - having each color represent a 10 degree range.  Yep.  Simple.

But with New Year's Eve being unseasonably warm (by 40-some degrees), I decided to look at the weather forecast for the month on January.  I saw that the first half of the month is predicted to be unseasonably warm, but by the end of the month we may get colder than normal.   My 40 degree range suddenly became possibly a 60-70 degree range!  And I was likely to end up with a scarf that was divided in half into two completely disparate color schemes.

So much for a pretty scarf.

Okay... so giving up the idea of subtly shifting colors or even anything that might approach "pretty", I decided to just have fun and embrace a variety of color.  After giving it some thought, I also concluded that to get anything interesting in a 31-day period I should make my temperature increments very small. I kept whittling down the increments until I landed on something that I think will provide some interesting variety - increments of 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

I know...  that sounds crazy.  And if making a temperature project over the course of a year, that would be crazy.  But over 31 days???   I figured I could do this with 18-20 colors (knowing I likely won't actually use all those colors).  

Searching my yarn stash, I was both thrilled and embarrassed that I had that many (actually more) colors of one brand of yarn in my possession,  so I can do this. With 20 colors, I will attempt to make a Temperature Scarf using this pattern.   And not that I think anyone is actually still reading about this funny idea, but here is a breakdown of the temps and colors I plan to use:

Daily High (degrees Fahrenheit)

Below 10 °F Black Canyon 
10-12° Great Smokey Mountains 
13-15° Lake Clark 
16-18° Hot Springs 
19-21° Kings Canyon 
22-24° Olympic 
25-27° Isle Royale 
28-30° Yosemite 
31-33° Cuyahoga Valley 
34-36° Glacier Bay 
37-39° Biscayne 
40-42° Joshua Tree 
43-45° Badlands 
46-48° Kenai Fjords 
49-51° Sequoia 
52-54° Redwood 
55-57° Danali 
58-60° Bryce Canyon 
above 60° Yellowstone

Snow - Mt. Rainier

And I've concluded that using https://weather.com/ is the simplest and quickest way for me to find the high temperature for each day.

So...  with all that explanation over with, I've begun my first temperature project.  This may be the most fun thing I've done to date, or it could very possibly be the ugliest.  Depending on my feelings about it come the end of January, I may just continue into February and make it into a a shawl.  Or it could make a trip to the burn barrel.

We'll see!

Here's what I have finished on January 5th:

I'm pretty sure, when all is said and done, I will conclude that this wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, and there are probably better ways to go about making a 1-month temperature scarf.  But I'm committed to a plan now.  And I'm looking forward to seeing what this ends up looking like!

If you want to join the fun, pop in to the Ravely Group, Our Happy CAL Place.   You need a free Ravelry account to access this link.