12-30-2017

Waiting for the WAL to begin is probably the hardest for me … yes, I’m excited!

As an excuse I tinkered around with my yarn and made a handy “color chart” on an index card ring. Don’t get me wrong, the color charts on a piece of paper with a strand of sample yarn are excellent and sufficient and recommendable. The ring thing is just me on a holiday break, having some fun.

On the other hand, I do recommend that - if time allows - and if you are tracking just one property, like “high” temperature - you make a few motifs in advance. At least in the colors that are most likely to be needed first. That way, you weave while you have time, for the days when you won’t have the time.

01-02-2018

Meet the “blanket of one”!

It was pretty obvious that the color choice for January 1st would be “Pansy Purple”, since I have settled on ‘51F and below’ for my lowest temp color. However, I wanted to play by the rules and look up the confirmed “high” temperature on wunderground.com the next day.

So I did. “High” temp yesterday was 32F … wow.

One down, 364 to go … I think it will work!

01-04-2018

There are a lot of “firsts” at this point:

• The first motif.
• The first joint motifs.
• The first color change.

I hope you enjoy your “firsts” as much as I do!

01-08-2018

Texas Two-Step!

When I added the seventh hexagon this morning to complete the first week of my temperature blanket, I had to chuckle.

Texas weather has gone perfectly “Texas Two-Step” - a very popular country/western dance around here - for the first week of the year. I like to think that this tells you something about living in Texas …

01-13-2018

A few more “firsts” …

My “Texas Two-Step” got broken this week with a little stretch of warmer weather, but I didn’t mind too much (because I like warmer weather).

But now we’re in for another cold dip, the difference in “high” temperature between January 10 and 11 was almost 20 degrees!

So, this is the “first” time that the temperature goes down instead of up. And I’m glad it landed in a color category that got skipped before: Royal Blue (a color that I really like) had its “first” appearance!

01-17-2018

Another “first”: The first row of my blanket is complete, after 16 days. Un-blocked it measures about 31”, right on track.

Ironically, the first row ended with the same color that it started … Texas is COLD right now!

01-31-2018 1/12 check-in!

The first of twelve months is done, I can hardly believe it. Good time to do a progress check:

• So far, on track.
• Happy with yarn, color, and chart choices.
• Second row is one motif short of being completed.
• Going “back and forth” is confirmed for me, but it was interesting to see how little difference it actually makes, since the weather changes gradually.
• I still have that spiral design in my mind and really would like to see how it compares to going row by row.

02-18-2018

I enjoy watching the progress of my own project, LOL!

The third row is done, up to February 16th. There’s a new “first” in that row … the light green color was introduced for the 4th on the left (79 F) and second to last on the right (75 F) … yay! Otherwise we had another cold spell, unusual for Texas. I like the current color scheme, but I do wonder what the “warm” days will look like. Ok, this project is real fun!

I know I chose the 2” hexagons so that it is more easy to haul the project around for shows and trunk shows, but next year I would like to make a 4” hexagon blanket so that I can actually cuddle in the results.

03-01-2018

Finishing February on a yellow note! (modified from the saying that things end on a high note)

The last two days of February were in the low 80ties, so I had another “first” and added some yellow hexagons.

03-14-2018

I know I’m not the only person to do so, but I had to chuckle about myself the other day when I noticed that I’m thinking in colors when thinking about weather temperatures.

The other day it was unusually warm, and when I noticed that the thermometer hit 90 degrees F, there was the urgent thought “Oh, I better look up what color that is!”

And then today … today is just another green day …

03-30-2018

What a journey!

The first quarter of the year is complete! And I think the March 10th 91 degrees Fahrenheit hexagon is very proud …

05-11-2018

It’s time to catch up!

The school year is coming to an end, the semester is done, taxes are done, the first show is over, anniversaries and birthdays are (almost) done … time to weave.

Days are getting away from the green to the yellow and orange … just a few more weeks until the red season begins …

Color talk!

05-18-2018

All caught up!

The new row looks like orange sherbet, crowned with a … another first time … red dot!

12-31-2018

2018 Year end status: I have all the temperatures recorded, and the blanket is assembled to the end of July, half way through the year, which includes the hottest day of the year (bottom right) in the status picture.

While I’m “behind” on this project, I greatly enjoy any time I’m working on it!