Weather Vain

Weather- because I've just finished knitting my weather scarf. Vain - because I keep strolling past the new wardrobe mirror door and saying "I like this, I am really pleased with myself for knitting this..."  Below are all the technical details- if that's boring, you can just skip to the end with the pictures!

I began last April with nine balls of Millarorchy Tweed yarn from the wonderful Kate Davies Designs. 

I used a free online weather programme to note the maximum temperature each day in Ferndown. The idea was that my birthday was April 10th, 2020 and we were leaving Ferndown on April 12th 2021. This scarf would chart one year of my life, the last one spent living in Dorset. 

I'd looked at records of previous years and worked out a temperature scale - nine shades seemed adequate - and I was prepared to buy an extra ball or two of the 'mid-range' temperature shades. The scarf would be 33sts wide, and two rows for each day, in simple k1p1 rib. [which is the same back and front] The records I used for daily temperatures were on this site

The site showed that in the previous 5 years, temperatures were between 5° and 27° Celsius. I worked out a chart allocating the shades to temperature bands of around 3° Last April was surprisingly warm - and that continued- I ended up buying an extra ball for the times the daily maximum was 27° or above. Similarly in the winter [" oh, it never gets really cold here, snow is most unusual!" people had been telling me] it went down to  freezing. Another shade was purchased.

Maximum temperature was on August 8th 32°, minimum on January 7th at minus 1°. I logged the readings in a notebook, writing the shade colour alongside, and every Friday or Saturday evening I'd knit up a dozen rows or so. [easier than knitting two rows every day] I made a decision that I would carry yarn up the side of my work for one day [two rows] at most - I had a lot of ends to darn in, and I did that as I went along. At the end of the year [I did 365 days - April 10th 2020 to April 9th 2021] I finished it.

The scarf is 200cm long, and 12½ cm wide. I made one twist and joined with a three-needle-bind-off [here] to make a Möbius strip 'infinity scarf' 

So that means I can wind the scarf round my neck three times- and arrange it to show all the colours [useful at the neck of a jacket when it is very chilly] 

Or slightly looser in two loops so it hangs lower. And careful arrangement of those two loops can keep it to the blue wintry tones, or the more colourful spring/summer/autumnal hues. In the collage below the triangle arrangement starts with April top left, go clockwise round the Year. 

The ridged join means I can quickly locate April - we had a lovely warm spell and you can see the hot orange shade at the top right of the triangle[Beginning of August] Down the right hand side, Autumn was cooler. Lots of icy blue greys at the end of December, start of January [bottom of triangle] and the early months of 2021 were cold [left hand side] 

The yarn was great to work with, and the scarf is very comfortable to wear. Thank you Kate Davies Designs for the lovely yarn and excellent choice of shades. Thank you Liz and Steph who paid for the yarn as my 2020 birthday present.

The picture top right is all the leftover yarns. I am thinking about making a hat or beret and possibly some striped fingerless gloves. But not just yet!

top tip  - knit a tension square, first, to work out how many stitches you need for your desired width, and how long it will be if you do 1, 2 or 3 rows per day. Otherwise you may end up with a choker that is too short - or a really long scarf