One of the ongoing problems inherent in discussions about climate change is the vast scale of the conversation. The Tempestry Project’s goal is to scale this down into something that is accurate, tangible, relatable, and beautiful.

The Tempestry Project blends fiber art with temperature data to create a bridge between global climate and our own personal experiences through knitted or crocheted temperature tapestries, or “Tempestries.” Each Original Tempestry depicts the daily high temperatures for a given year and location, January at the bottom and December at the top (think bar graphs!), all using the same yarn colors and temperature ranges.

A single Tempestry can be a beautiful commemoration of an important life event — a birthday, a wedding, or even (as in the case of one participant) a family’s immigration date. A collection of Tempestries showing different years for a single location creates a powerful visual representation of changing temperatures over time.

Custom Original Tempestry Kits available for order here. Or you can process your own data, calculate yarn amounts, and just order yarn here.

As more and more people begin making their own Tempestries, both individually and in geographic collections, a mosaic of our climate history has begun to emerge. The more people get involved — through knitting, crocheting, cross stitching, discussing, sharing — the richer, the more beautiful, and the more undeniable our mosaic becomes.