We had a hot summer. Donna Sutton of Denton knows just by looking at her crochet project. It's a 'temperature blanket.'
"This is my fun project," Sutton said. "It's really easy to do."
Sutton crochets one row of a blanket each day. The color is based on the high temperature for that day.
"You know living in Texas, it's either hot or it's not hot," Sutton said with a laugh. "Everyone's like, 'Oh Texas! How can you live there? It's so hot!' I'm like, 'Oh, but look down here," Sutton said grabbing a green portion of her blanket. "It was nice and cool!"
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Each color of the blanket represents a 5-degree temperature span. Sutton has a key to keep her on track. For instance, the yarn company Sutton is using calls a deep burgundy color 'claret.' Sutton calls it 105-109 degrees.
"I was just thinking I hope I don't run out of this yarn," Sutton said noting that particular color has been discontinued. "I'd rather have a cool day with a nice breeze."
Sutton crocheted her first temperature blanket in 2020 as a way to pass the time during the pandemic. The end result: a multi-colored crocheted data graph that can keep her family warm on those cold days.
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"For me, it's just a creative outlet, a stress relief in a way," Sutton said. "To honor a craft that probably is losing popularity, but I hope never goes away."
Now that the fall equinox has passed and North Texas is officially in fall, Sutton's temperature blanket should shift in color.
"It's kind of taught me just to wait and see how things work out," Sutton said. "They usually are beautiful in the end."
