The Dunraven Temperature Shawl
Over the past two years, my temperature blanket patterns have been met with enthusiasm by almost everyone I’ve talked to. However, the small percentage who were less than enthused generally had one of two (or both) complaints:
“I don’t think I can commit to a project for an entire year.”
“Blankets are too big.”
Therefore, after hearing these complaints repeated several times, I decided that 2021 should be the year to help those who are intimidated by the duration and magnitude of a year-long tracking project. This tracking shawl provides the option to make a smaller project in a quarter of the time it takes to make a traditional temperature blanket.
Nevertheless, the Dunraven Shawl would be just as lovely in a solid color as it is with stripes dictated by Mother Nature. This pattern is a gorgeous piece on its own, with the beneficial ability to double as a tracking shawl. I encourage anyone who loves the shawl, but not the tracking aspect, not to be deterred by that feature.
The Name
All of my patterns are named for places in Wyoming and inspired by nature. The Dunraven Shawl is worked in the alpine stitch, and, if it’s one thing my great state isn’t lacking, its high elevation forests. There were several forested areas I could have chosen, but I kept coming back to Dunraven Peak. Maybe it’s the fact that Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is one of my favorite places on Earth, or, that I designed this pattern while binge listening to Outlander on Audible, but the name stuck.
The peak and pass were named for Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, the 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. Windham was a sportsman and early tourist to YNP. His time spent in the Rocky Mountains transformed the Earl into a conservation advocate and his book, The great divide : travels in the upper Yellowstone in the summer of 1874, encouraged tourism and promoted the park as a destination to fellow Europeans.
Dunraven Peak and it’s associated pass are located in the northern portion of YNP in northwest Wyoming. The peak overlooks a beautiful pine forest studded with wildflowers in the summer and glistening in a thick blanket of snow in the winter. The pass, a winding and narrow stretch of road with blind corners and nauseating turns, has never been my favorite drive, but it is beautiful nonetheless. Check out Dunraven Peak using the Mt. Washburn Webcam.
Getting Started
Even though this pattern isn’t the traditional tracking blanket, most of the same decisions still need to be made. Are you tracking the high, low, or average temperature for each day? How will you determine temperature ranges? How will you choose your colors? All of these questions and more are addressed in my Designing the Perfect Temperature Blanket blog post and may be worth your perusal.
It is also important to remember that this shawl does not have to represent temperature. There are a variety of ways to track a portion of your year without the weather being involved. Here are a few ideas:
Travel
Good deeds
Self-care
Mood
Reading time
Monetary spending
Family time
Exercise
Eating habits
Water consumption
Colors
If you’ve read my Designing the Perfect Temperature Blanket blog, you’ll know all about my advice on color choices, but I want to stress again how important choosing color can be to the overall project. It is important to remember that any and all of your colors may get paired next to each other in this shawl, so all of your colors need to work cohesively.
Since this shawl is designed around seasons, you may choose to get creative with your temperature ranges. I chose to keep my ranges at ten degrees, resulting in only four colors, but it may be fun to have smaller ranges and more colors. It’s up to you!
My Design
Seasons can be determined astronomically or meteorologically. Astronomical seasons start on equinoxes and solstices. Meteorological seasons are determined by months. I chose to write this pattern using astronomical seasons, beginning on December 22, 2019 and ending March 19, 2020. I plan to create a second Dunraven shawl using meteorological seasons starting December 1, 2020 and ending February 28, 2021.
For this shawl, I used color associated with the high temperature each day. The temperature ranges and colors are:
<29°F - Zinc
30-39°F - Wharf
40-49°F - River Rock
50-59°F - Plume
The Pattern
All WYldflower Crochet patterns are written in US terminology.
The downloadable PDF includes the Dunraven Shawl pattern, photo tutorials, tracking suggestions, seasonal outlines, a printable tracking sheet, the link to a digital tracking sheet, and seven suggested color palettes using We Crochet Gloss Fingering yarn.
Difficulty
Intermediate
Gauge
25 sts x 20 rows of alpine st = 4x4” square
Finished Size
90x40”
Materials
3,488 - 3,893 yds Fingering (1) weight yarn
I used:
18 skeins of We Crochet Gloss Fingering
Colors: Zinc (3 skeins), Wharf (7 skeins), River Rock (4 skeins), and Plume (4 skeins)
2.25 mm - B Crochet Hook (or hook needed to achieve gauge)
Tapestry Needle
Scissors
Stitches
Main stitch:
Alpine Stitch
The alpine stitch has a fantastic texture and is just as beautiful on the back as it is on the front.
Additional abbreviations:
ch - chain
cont - continue
dc - double crochet
fptc - front post treble crochet
sc - single crochet
st(s) - stitch(es)
yo - yarn over
