It may have taken far longer than I ever expected, but I finally finished my 2020 temperature blanket. It was a wonderful, as well as frustrating, project. I definitely learned a few things from it. In case you ever consider crocheting or knitting a temperature blanket, here is some food for thought.
Measure once, twice, five times: This blanket. Is. Huge! It is the size of a king-size comforter. Each square is four rounds. In hindsight, I could’ve gone with three rounds and still had a very nice size blanket.
Have a lot of yarn on hand: Who could’ve possibly ever guessed we would wind up in the middle of a pandemic while I was working on a temperature blanket. The closing of craft stores in New Jersey and the supply chain issues everyone experienced made it incredibly difficult to get the yarn I needed. I ultimately ended up with leftover yarn, but hey, I’ll just add it to my stash.
Weave in your ends as you go along: I will fully admit it. I absolutely hate weaving in ends. While every hand-made item from my Grandmother and my Aunt Ann never had an end come unraveled, I have never figured out how to make that happen. I started out weaving in the ends a few squares at a time. Then I moved to one month’s worth of squares at a time. Then I completely fell off the wagon. The last month of my project was spent weaving in ends. If you do decide to do a temperature blanket, whether you decide to do squares, rows, or another pattern, know you will be weaving in 365 ends.
Be patient: This is a long-term project. Don’t be surprised if you walk away from it for a bit. There are moments you will feel it is incredibly tedious. Like I said, I found myself getting frustrated when I couldn’t get the right yarn I needed. I would work on it in spurts. Consider this a long-term WIP.
In closing it is a neat way to remember a specific year and I don’t think any of us will ever forget 2020. Maybe think about doing this for a happy year, such as the year of a wedding, or when you (or a family member) is heading to college or having a baby. One thing is for sure; I am definitely happy with how mine turned out!