P.E.I. woman crochets blanket that tells the story of 2021's weather

Fort Augustus resident Sarah Defoe turned a newfound passion for crocheting into a unique keepsake to remember how she found comfort in 2021: a blanket that uses bright colours to record 365 days' weather in Prince Edward Island. 

Defoe said she got the idea of making the temperature blanket after seeing some other crocheters' creations online, including mood blankets.

"I know people have done the mood blankets, but moods are all over the place. I figure this is kind of more straightforward — I can follow the colour pattern of the weather," Defoe said in an interview with Island Morning. 

Defoe needed about 20 minutes to complete a single row of crochet for each day's weather. That amounted to about 121 hours altogether. 

Defoe only began crocheting last year, and welcomed it as a way to enjoy "downtime" away from household activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I get the cleaning up done and hide from the kids playing during the day, and then I take a little bit of time to crochet and just relax," she said. 

The colours on Defoe's blanket span from white, which signify the coldest days of the year, to orange, which signify the hottest. Together, the spectrum of colour tells a story. 

"You'd be able to see like a bright orange in the middle of summer, or you'd be able to say, 'Oh well, that must have been a really hot day,'" Defoe said.

"And then you'll see like a really light coloured white where it was probably –16. Like in January, February, you'll see a bit of a white colour for it because it was a colder day."

Other colours in the blanket such as purple, dark blue, blue and violet indicate the colder days of the year, while green and yellow indicate warmer weather.

Defoe's work visualized data for a year that had remarkable weather. 

According to Adam Fenech, associate professor at UPEI's school of climate change and adaptation, the weather on P.E.I. last year was warmer and drier than usual. 

"This is what climate change has promised us, and it sure delivered last year," Fenech said in a recent interview. 

For instance, the Island broke three temperature records on June 8. Summerside recorded the highest ever June temperature on P.E.I. at 32.7 C, breaking a 74-year-old record.