A Long Overdue fo: Whitehorse 2015 Year in Temperature Scarf

I don't even want to go dig up the old posts on this project.  The fact that it was knit and (nearly) finished in 2015 should say enough.  Though to be fair, the sewing in of ends only just got finished a couple of months ago, and not by me either but a friend who was tired of seeing it with it's sporadic fringe.

Without further ado, here is my finished Year in Temperature Scarf!

Yes, this is the slatwall chalkboard in the shop.  It makes for a fun display!  For those who don't know, this is a conceptual project, where you choose colours to represent different temperature ranges, and knit rows for each day in the colour that represents the temperature that day!

If you look closely, you can see each of the months labeled, the black deep colds at the beginning and ends of the year (which represents average temps of below -30C), and the swath of light pink that represents my trip to Mexico in June of that year (it was my only chance to use light pink!).  My favourite bit is the change from deep cold in early February to above zero temps within the week.  Oh Canada.

Here's the temperature ranges I chose:

I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport.  Most people who knit this chose a palette that follows the standard colours used to represent temperatures ranges on weather reporting (red orange yellow green blue purple).  I wasn't a fan of how they came out though, so I picked my own colours!  I love blues and purples and burgundy, so of course that had to be my range.

I knit this sucker in a 1x1 rib and did two rows of each colour for the average daily temperature for each day.  Ravelry tells me I cast on 44 stitches and and I honestly can't remember anything else about it. 

The whole thing measures just shy of 10 feet.  This scarf only really gets broken out when it's super cold, since I can wrap this thing around my head 3 or 4 times!  Makes me laugh every time I put it on, and even more when I try to take it off and boggle at the amount of wraps.

Anywho, now that Christmas Retail Insanity is over, I'm hoping to get back into blogging.  There may be a flurry of posts in the next little bit, as I've been mentally composing a ton of them in the last month or two.  I'm glad to get this one off my list at last!  It's always nice to get an old, long-term project finished up, complete with a post. 

Have you ever tackled a conceptual project like this, and would you consider it?  Where would the temperature range sit on my chart above in your area? 

wip Name and Shame Time

Uh, I might have a problem.  A big startitis problem.  A woman at one of my knit nights recently asked me how many projects I had on the go, and I jokingly said 15.  Um.

Here, let me lay it out for you.

1. Year in Temp scarf.  Started in January, stalled out in March.  Still recording the daily temps though, so I'll catch up...someday.
2. Toque Tank.  This was the second knit I started during the TTTKAL, after I powered through my Avana.  It flew off of the needles...until I hit the armhole and neck bands.  This will probably only take another couple of hours of knit time.
3. Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot! Nearly finished the first fingerless glove!  Loving this project, but the colourwork takes a lot of concentration.  Maybe a half-hour to finish the first?
4. Striped toque.  This is for a silent auction for an upcoming family reunion.  We're fundraising to buy an outdoor event tent.  I'm planning to make a pair of fingerless mitts and a cowl to go with it.  This is still in the wips because I just need to finish sewing in ends.  Uh yeah.  Minutes.
5. Henri.  The as-yet-unblogged sweater.  I adore this thing, it's like a wearable swatch, so much fun to knit!  I need maybe a few more hours to finish the front, then onto the back.  This got put on hold while I knit my Cardboard Cafe for the Holla Knits KAL.  Definitely something that needs to be picked up again soon!
6. Fuego in Flames toque.  Haha just started this sucker.  I justified it because...because.  I'm knitting this out of a scrumptious yarn one of my best buddies sent me in March for my birthday.  Considering how much I'm loving both the pattern and this yarn, it shouldn't take too long to finish it.
7. Amiga for the Heather's Amiga KAL.  Just blogged about this.  I'm nearly done the raglan increases, but will be holding once they're done to wait for Heather to catch up (she cast on tonight - July 7!).  
8. Nub of a scarf.  Was supposed to be a small lacy scarf using this amazing qiviut that the above-mentioned Heather sent me a while ago.  I don't like the lace though, so I guess I'll frog this and find a better project for this yummy yarn.  Not that there's a lot to frog.
9. SpringTastic Socks.  Started this on the way to Mexico, hoping to finish the pair on the trip.  Then realized how long fine-weight yarn socks take, so hoped to finish one.  Then was just pleased to get past the heel.  Uh, these are taking a while.  I like them though!  Must get back to them.
10. Yet another Baby Vest.  Same pattern as the pink one I just made.  Probably only need another hour to two to finish this one?  What the heck, me, just finish it already.
11. 5 Hour Baby Sweater.  On...5 months?  AHA yeah.  All that's left is about 12 rows for the hem and buttons, AND THAT'S IT.  I...don't even know why this isn't done.
12. Silver Star Crocheted Blanket.  Started for a friend's baby, took too long to start, baby is now 1.5 years old?  I don't think he's getting this blanket.  Good thing I didn't tell his parents about it, eh?
13. Reverb.  Uh so I started this November 2013, and last worked on it during a plague the end of December 13.  I do really want this cardigan, it's just been hard to restart this.  Maybe I should pull it out again after I finish Henri.
14. Alpaca Winter Socks.  I think I mentioned these socks (or erm, half of a sock) in the Baby Vest post - they're a community knitting project.  They'll be a really heavy and warm men's over-socks.  These suckers weigh a ton already!
15. Dishcloths!  I'm including both of these as one project so I don't go over the holy number 15, shhh.  Actually, I've joined another dishcloth swap and they posted both the Happy dishcloth and the Pinwheel dishcloth.  I spent that morning working on these instead of cleaning my house and packing for a camping trip last Friday. HAHAHA.  The crochet dishcloth only needs another half hour to finish.  The pinwheel needs to be seamed and have all the ends sewn in.  One or both is going to someone awesome!

I actually think there might be more, but this is what I could find.  And this doesn't even touch on sewing.  I have a declaration to make though:

I, Heather of Things I Make. Plus Rocks, do declare that I will finish at least 5 of these projects in the next month, and will not start anything else until they're done.  I will also finish all of these projects before the end of 2015.

And now it's your turn: how many wips do you have?  *arches eyebrow*

wip: a Year in Temps 2015

Last year, I started a conceptual knitting project that involved knitting a scarf using different colours to represent daily temperatures.  Really cool idea, but despite having all the temps for 2013 (my first full calender year in the Yukon), I stalled out by April 2013.  I just wasn't a fan of how narrow the scarf was, and wasn't too happy with the way I was handling the ends.

(I just realized I wrote the post for this on Sewing on Pins exactly a year ago today.  Hilariously, I've also signed up for Holla Knits KAL again, but more on that another time.)

So I decided to restart it this year, but this time following along with 2015 temps.  I'm using the daily average temps from accuweather and trying to knit each day.  Sometimes I fall a bit behind, like in my last rotation in camp, but I enjoyed catching up on the previous 14 days.  You can see my progress below.

That dark blue section is when it dipped down to -25C to -29C (-13F to -20F).  I was a little disappointed because it was actually colder, cold enough that I could've used the black, but the average was a little warmer.  There are times I wish I could use the lows, but I'll also want to use the highs in the summer, so the averages is the best compromise.  I think that means I'll never use the extremes, but I accounted for that by putting all my favourite colours in the middle section!  I'm a smart cookie sometimes.  

The darker purple area?  That was nearly an entire week of above 0C (32F) temps!  ARRRGHHH not what a skier wants to see when she's sitting in camp and itching to get onto the hill or our for a cross-country trip.  Luckily we got a couple of good snow dumps in the last few days.  But that also means I can't actually drive up my street, which is a crescent on a hill and is literally uphill on both sides - combined with the iciness below the snow means my car is being parked a 15 minute walk away.  As you can see by the light purple and darker purple on the top, temps are still hovering above 0.  BRING ON THE COLD TEMPS!

These are my colours, ranging from coldest on the left and warmest on the right.  0C is the light purple in the middle.  I cast on 44 stitches this time to make the scarf a bit wider and am knitting a 1x1 rib.  I'll be starting and ending the scarf with 6 rows of white, and adding 3 rows of white between each month.

If you want the exact breakdown of temp colours and details on the pattern itself, you can check out my Ravelry project page.

This is going to be a fun year-long project!  I'll update you all every few months on my progress.  Have you ever tackled a long-term project like this?