I enjoy temperature projects because they are a fun way to keep track of a year. For 2020 I have designed a temperature blanket which fades from light to dark colors, my Faded Fantasy Temperature Blanket in the soft and woolly Scheepjes Metropolis yarn. In this post you find everything you need to know, including the free pattern in English (US terms) and Dutch, yarn colors as well as an estimate for yarn amounts. Join me in the challenge of committing to a project for a full year.
Resources
- Add Faded Fantasy Temperature Blanket to your Ravelry Library
- Faded Fantasy Temperature Blanket Pattern US
- Faded Fantasy Temperature Deken Patroon Nederlands
- Yarn used is Scheepjes Metropolis in combination with a 3.0mm (US D/3) hook
- Share your work on my Facebook page or Instagram using #itsallinanutshell
Faded Fantasy Colorways
The idea behind my Faded Fantasy Temperature Blanket is to choose a color you love, and then make a fade in that color using 8 shades from light to dark. I have chosen Scheepjes Metropolis yarn for my Faded Fantasy blanket because it comes in 80 colors, which makes it possible to make a variety of faded colorways, and because it’s a sock weight yarn which keeps the blanket at a manageable size.
Scheepjes Metropolis yarn is available from Wool Warehouse (Ships International) and Caro’s Atelier (NL/EU) and well as many other Scheepjes Stockists.
I have selected 3 fades that I think you might like in shades of pink, blue, and green. I have named the colorways Precious Pink Fade, Bubbly Blue Fade, and Graceful Green fade. Which is your favorite? I am going to make my Fantasy Fade in the Precious Pink colorway.
For each Fade I have defined the temperatures that go along with each color. I have defined these temperatures based on the climate I live in. If you live in a climate that is very different from the climate in western Europe, you can shift the temperatures up or down to work better with your local weather prognosis.
Yarn Amounts
It’s impossible to predict how much yarn you will need for the blanket because the color placement is still unknown. I have the following yarn amounts of Scheepjes Metropolis in my project bag as a starting point.
| Precious Pink | Bubbly Blue | Graceful Green | Yarn Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolis 24 Cota | Metropolis 19 Marseille | Metropolis 23 Monterrey | 1 ball |
| Metropolis 61 Tokyo | Metropolis 9 Madrid | Metropolis 21 Rangpur | 2 balls |
| Metropolis 52 Bogota | Metropolis 14 Lahore | Metropolis 29 Salvador | 3 balls |
| Metropolis 60 Jaipur | Metropolis 5 Medan | Metropolis 28 Vancouver | 3 balls |
| Metropolis 51 Marrakech | Metropolis 4 Kabul | Metropolis 32 Abu Dhabi | 4 balls |
| Metropolis 55 Lima | Metropolis 3 Dallas | Metropolis 31 Canberra | 3 balls |
| Metropolis 54 Johannesburg | Metropolis 2 Glasgow | Metropolis 27 San Juan | 2 balls |
| Metropolis 53 Santiago | Metropolis 1 Bucharest | Metropolis 16 Karachi | 1 ball |
I have based these starting amounts on the general weather pattern for my country and it’s nothing more than an estimate. If your climate is very different, you will need different yarn amounts.
Scheepjes Metropolis yarn is available from Wool Warehouse (Ships International) and Caro’s Atelier (NL/EU) and well as many other Scheepjes Stockists.
UPDATE: Finished Blanket
I made my Faded Fantasy blanket using the Precious Pink colorway for the year 2020, a strange year in which we went through a worldwide pandemic, lockdowns and other things we have never experienced before. 2020 was yet again a HOT year, similar to 2019 and 2018, with not a single ice day. An ice day is a day in which the maximum temperature stays below freezing. Unfortunately I did not get to use my lowest temperature color, it was been left unused in my project box. The highest temperature color on the other hand has been used way more than I expected because of the insane heat wave. In this photo, the bottom left corner corresponds to January 1st, and the top right corner corresponds to December 31st.
UPDATE: Yarn amounts for MY blanket
I can give you yarn amounts for MY blanket, but your yarn amounts could be different because you will have a different temperature distribution. However, it does give you a ballpark idea of how much yarn you will use. I used the following yarn amounts of Scheepjes Metropolis in the Precious Pink colorway:
- 0 x Scheepjes Metropolis 24 : Cota
- 1 x Scheepjes Metropolis 61 : Tokyo
- 1 x Scheepjes Metropolis 52 : Bogota
- 2 x Scheepjes Metropolis 60 : Jaipur
- 3 x Scheepjes Metropolis 51: Marrakech
- 5 x Scheepjes Metropolis 54: Lima
- 2 x Scheepjes Metropolis 55: Johannesburg
- 1 x Scheepjes Metropolis 60 : Santiago
Scheepjes Metropolis yarn is available from Wool Warehouse (Ships International) and Caro’s Atelier (NL/EU) and well as many other Scheepjes Stockists.
Pattern
The pattern for the blanket is a square worked in single crochet stitches along the diagonal of the blanket. Each day the diagonal is increased with 2 stitches until half way through the year when we decrease the diagonal by two stitches a day up to the end of the year. At its maximum the diagonal has 366 stitches. I have two versions of the pattern available, one for a normal year, and one for a leap year. 2020 is a leap year, so I need to compensate for that in the pattern. All details regarding the stitch pattern and stitch counts is in the written pattern available in English and Dutch.
Gauge swatch
I want to encourage you to make a gauge swatch so that you have an idea of what you can expect the final size of your blanket to be. Make about 25 rows of the pattern in the same yarn and hook size as you want to use for your blanket. I use a 3mm hook with Metropolis yarn. For my gauge swatch I used two random colors of Metropolis yarn I still have around the house, but you can also use one of the colors from your fade. Measure your gauge swatch in cm, and multiply the sizes with 7.3 to give you an indication of the final dimensions of your blanket in cm.
Note that your gauge swatch will be a triangle after 25 rows. To make the square as shown in the photograph below, work the decrease rows given in the pattern. Our final blanket will be a square. The length on the two edges of my swatch after 25 rows is about 13cm. This means my blanket will be about 95cm (38″) square. This is a comfortable lapghan sized blanket.
Which temperature to use?
I use the maximum temperature for each day, but you can also use the minimum temperature, average temperature, or temperature at a certain time during the day. I use a website called www.weerstatistieken.nl to find information on the temperatures for my city. Weerstatistieken.nl gives the temperatures recorded at all official weather stations in The Netherlands. A search on the internet should give you similar websites for your own country.
Other Temperature Projects
If you are looking for more temperature projects, I have two more designs for you, both are perfect ways to keep track of the coming year, or to record a special year from the past.
With the Bohemian Temperature Wrap we make a triangular wrap which grows from only one stitch on January 1st, to a long edge of over 150 stitches on December 30th. This pattern uses Scheepjes Cotton 8 and is perfect for a leap year, because you simply add one more row to the pattern.
A second design I have for you is my C2C Temperature blanket. This was my first temperature blanket, and I made it in 2018 when we had an insanely hot summer. The blanket uses over 40 colors of Scheepjes Maxi Sweet Treat is one big explosion of RED.
#itsallinanutshell
If you are making something with one of my patterns or one of my videos, I would love to see your work. Use the hashtag #itsallinanutshell on Instagram to help me find it, share your work in my It’s all in a Nutshell Crochet Nuts group on Facebook or tag me in one of your posts.
With love,
Esther
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Mooie kleuren, ik wil de groene, wat kan ik gebruiken als we onder de 0 graden gaan, ik woon in het Oosten dus dat gebeurt hier nog wel eens.
Alles 0oC en minder is kleur 23. Het symbool “<" betekent "minder dan". Ik heb vorig jaar slechts een aantal dagen gehad dat onder nul waren, dus deze kleur gebruikt je het minst.
Bedankt!
Hoi maak je ook nog een video? Ik ben slecht in het lezen van steken, of een kaart.
Nee, voor dit patroon heb ik geen video beschikbaar.
I have always wanted to make a temperature quilt! I think 2020 will be the year. Thank you Esther!!????
Hope you join me, I am looking forward to see my blanket develop.
So it says free pattern but I don’t know or understand how to start this diagonal pattern
Row 1 says: Ch2, 1sc in first ch. Turn.
This means, work 2 chains, and in the first chain work 1 single crochet. And then turn you work.
I don’t see the pattern on this page either. And I searched the page for ch2 and the only place it shows up is in your comment here. So I’m not sure the pattern is showing!
Bah, and I spotted the link right after. i was expecting the pattern text to actually be on the page. Sorry!
I see you found the link, glad you are on your way with the pattern 🙂 If you have any issues, just give me a shout!
I love the idea of this project. I have a question. I live in Canada and from November to April, the temperature is usually below zero. Should I create 5 degrees sections and add new colors of yarn to take me from <0 to <-35 celcius? Or simply add more yarn to <0 but there would be a lot of that color? Your advice will be appreciated. Chantal
Sure, you could add a white at the bottom. If you never get above 30C you could also shift everything down by 5C
Thank you.
I would like to participate in this project for 2020. And, would like to make this blanket for my 2-year-old granddaughter. She has extremely bad eczema and is allergic to wool. Is there any chance you could recommend a Scheepjes cotton yarn and the colors that I could use for the Precious Pink Blanket. Thank you.
So sorry to hear that the yarn will not work for your daughter. I suggest Catona, which is a bit thicker and heavier, so your blanket will be a bit larger. I will have to get back to you on colors.
Thank you so much for your assistance.
Hi Esther, I too am from Canada so was thinking of doing the Bubbly Blue for above zero and the Precious Pink for below zero. Please give me your honest opinion, I have a really hard time picking colors so am never sure if the go together or not.
Thank you,
Joanne
Hi Joanne, yes the blue and pink go together for sure, but I would do the blue for below zero, and the pink for above zero. And then I would do the blue in reverse order, so that the the light color from the blue is next to the light color from the pink. Then the darkest colors blue are -30 or something like that. That way the fades follow a natural feeling of how colors and temperatures correlate.
So I would shift the pink one slot, so that all the pink is above zero, that adds a +35C. And put the blue in reverse order for everything below zero. That gives you up to -35C. And if that doesn’t match your climate, I am out of ideas! 😀
Thank you Esther, I appreciate your help. I was thinking about making this change too. I am super excited these two color ways go together. I will definitely change th direct for the blues as you suggest.
Thanks again, have a great weekend!!
I’m looking at your temperature scale and half of it is missing! 😀
I guess that’s what I get for it not being weird to have highs from -25C to +35C (if we don’t count “feels like”). My temp blanket had 16 colours, with 5 degree increments, and using the “feels like” temperatures I ranged from -37C to +46C.
Hahahaha, indeed, that’s what happens when you live in an impossible climate! 😀 You could stretch up the temperature ranges. I took steps of 5C, but you could increase the steps to 10C, that whay you can still work with 8 colors. Alternatively, add more colors at the top and bottom.
Hi, I was wondering if I could do your Bohemian Temperature Wrap with Scheepjes Metropolis yarn? Or will that be too big of a yarn for that project?
Absolutely, go for it! your wrap will be roughly the same size, because the Metropolis is about the same thickness as Cotton 8. The only difference is that the wrap will be much softer with Metropolis compared to Cotton 8.
Hallo Esther , wat een leuk idee deze temperatuurdeken!Ik ben benieuwd of er nog meer kleurencombinaties komen?Ik wil graag een deken maken in paarse tinten , maar ben erg slecht in kleuren bij elkaar zoeken…….
Ik heb deze 3 kleuren gemaakt, maar er zijn zoveel mogelijkheden met de Metropolis. Maak een verloop van licht naar donker, en dan komt het zeker goed.
Hi I want to make a temp blanket next year for our 20th wedding anniversary but I cant find the English instructions. Both the links lead to the Dutch version. Could you point me in the right direction for English please?
Fixed!
Hi-
The link to your English version isn’t working. It sends me to the Dutch translation
Fixed!
Hey there! I have just started my own temperature blanket project as well, I came across yours searching for other bloggers who make one for 2020. I use a simple Chevron pattern, though. Happy to follow your progress as you go along! 🙂
Hi Esther, I am struggling with the instructions regarding the gauge. Your calculations of 21 times 7.3 is 153.3 cm. How does this equate to 37 in square?
You are correct, I somewhere made an error, can’t find it in my notes, so no idea where it happened. I will correct the pattern. Thank you for letting me know.
Hoi Esther, ik zit nu op ongeveer 43 centimeter, klopt dat zo’n beetje?
Ja, dat klopt wel. Ik ben op 39cm tot 17 maart