A TEMPERATURE BLANKET

Recently I was turned on to a new Fiber Store in Portland Maine 

called Port Fiber.

As I was purusing their shop I ran across a yarn that I was introduced to

 maybe a good 20 years ago called Peace Fleece.

Back then it was a combination of American Wool mixed with Russian Wool.

Because I thought the idea a great one I purchased a bit of the yarn

 and made a child's sweater but didn't really like the feel of the wool.

It had a rough hand and was a bit stiff,

not a pleasure to knit with.

So,

 I never bought more.

but always loved the idea of it and wanting to support them.

After reading their current mission statement it looks like they are now combining Navajo Herders sheep (usually Churro but in this case Rambuillet) 

and Texas Mohair goats in combo with wool from Farms back East.

But after seeing these pictures of finished blankets in the Port Fiber shop

created with Peace Fleece,

 I was hooked,

and had to find out more about them.

So off went $10 for a color card

There are about 30 colors and 9 neutrals.

They are called Temperature Blankets and this originated as a 

Crochet-(or Knit)-Along 2 years ago.

You can see more of them on Ravelry if you are interested.

Each blanket represents a daily years worth of temps.,

and they advertise it as a perfect project for data nerds.

Well,

I know I'm not that,

ha ha,

 but the surprise and random outcomes of each blanket had me fascinated.

The outcome is not something I could completely control which I love.

The blanket is worked in stripes with one row of single crochet (or knit)

for each day in a color that represents that day's temperature.

They suggest breaking up the temps. into 5 or 10 degree increments.

I went for 5 so I could use a few more colors.

They recommended10 colors,

 but I only mangaed to narrow it down to 12 colors so I'm working with 5 degree ranges.

Below are my final choices.

Honestly I was tempted to go with the 10 saturated colors 

on the 2nd page of the color card,

but my husband said it looked too blah,

that I needed to add a few other colors to make the blanket pop a bit.

Did I listen to him?

Of course, 

he was probably right.

We'll see.

My degree breakdown looks like this from left to right:

1.  106-111 degrees  Wooly Bear

    2.  100-105 degrees Glasnost Gold

             3.  94-99 degrees  Mourning Dove         

4.  88-93 degrees      Palomino  

      5.  82-87 degrees      Chickie Masla

 6.  76-81 degrees Desert Tundra

           7.  70-75 degrees  Anna's Grasshopper

 8.  64-69 degrees     Baltic Blue

       9.  58-63 degrees  Kalinka Malinka

10. 52-57 degrees  Bonnie Blue

11. 46-51 degrees      Amaranth

 12. 40-45 degrees  Mesa Marble

Don't you just adore the names of the colors?

My favorite is Chickie Masla.

WOOL WITH PURPOSE

A small New England fiber company with a mission.

We work to support pastoral communities that have been historically in conflict with the US. Currently we are working with the Navajo to offer fair market prices for the Rambouillet sheep wool raised by families in the Navajo Nation. Our yarn is made of this wool blended with a domestic fine wool and mohair for strength. We love what we do, and we hope you will too.