So It Begins! – Keep Right (Except to Pass)

I make the rules around here.

My 2022 stitching project is under way! I finally traced the design last night, and I have completed the first two segments. I decided to go with actual measurements for my temperature chart, which means I will do my stitching one day after the fact (or at least after midnight) and end up doing my final addition on January 1 of next year.

*If you’re viewing this on a mobile device, this is approximately actual size*.

You may or may not be surprised to learn that there are not a lot of sources for yesterday’s weather. There are some sources that offer raw data incomprehensible to the non-meteorologist, but not very many that tell you plainly what yesterday’s high and low were. I faced additional frustration trying to find a source that would be closer to where I live than SeaTac Airport (which is about 35 miles away), but I finally came across Weather Spark, which compiles comprehensive data from Paine Field Airport (only 4 miles away). It even has lines indicating the 24-hour high and low each day:

***Data, data, data!*** *If you click on the chart, it jumps down to the corresponding reading in a table below so you can see all the other details at that time.*

Super nerdy and fun! I debated whether to stitch the high, the low, the average, or some other temperature measurement entirely. Ultimately, I decided to stitch the inner part of the square for the high temperature of the day, and then outline it with for the low temperature. I will also keep a running spreadsheet of the actual numbers, and at the end of the month, I will stitch the word for the month in the color that corresponds to the overall average temperature for that month.

I decided to use white cotton muslin again (two layers) because it’s plain, it’s something I’m familiar with after using it last year, and I have a lot of it on hand. I had some slightly off-white fabric with a closer weave, but I wanted a brighter white to offset my bright color choices. Here is the color scale for the increments I chose:

*The scale was too small for me to trace comfortably (apologies to anyone trying to stitch it at this size!) Also I didn’t specify Fahrenheit, which is a big oversight.*

I have no idea how much variation that will provide for me over the course of the year, but that’s something I’ll find out as I go. So far, both days have used two colors, so I’m optimistic. I decided not to put the scale on the piece yet, in case I change it at some point (I want to be free to make up my mind as I go.) I will put the scale on there before the end, though, otherwise the colors are meaningless!

Last year, if I missed a segment for whatever reason, I would stitch that day in gray the next time I got to it. I don’t want to do anything like that this year, so if I miss a day, I’ll still stitch the corresponding colors on that square the next time I stitch. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up, because that’s kind of the point, but I like having a contingency plan.

So there we go! I’m off and running. Wish me (and the fellow artists joining me in a parallel challenge) luck!