The concept is based on the appearance of the Global Temperature 6 Colour Climate scarf (see image) showing 100 years of global climate (1920-2019), but uses variegated dyed yarn to minimise yarn changes and difficulty. The whole idea is to combine beauty, ease of construction, practicality and activism. Make them for family, friends or your local politician. If worn frequently you spread the message of #ClimateActionNow without saying a word. For accurate Global Climate scarves see the iconic Common Grace’s Knit for Climate Action scarf or 6 Colour Climate scarf.

The pattern was created for a friend who has never knitted and so is ideal as a first knitting project. Youtube tutorials are given as links for each new step. While beginners will use garter stitch, it would work with any stitch completed in rows.

Two versions are given: a simple 3 tone version and a more accurate 8 tone version. More experienced knitters may enjoy using stitches with lacy or textured effects. It also looks great if you can get gradient yarns of greens and yellow/orange/brown toning, to show living/dead rather than cold/hot. Just use the green instead of blue and the brown instead of red.

These colourways are relevant to where I live for extreme fires and drought. If you come up with colourways relevant to other Climate areas, such as the Cat. 5 Cyclones in the Pacific and the extreme blizzards in the far North, please alert us via the Caring About Climate Change group.

Scarf dimensions:
15cmx160cm (6x64in) using 8ply yarn - approx. 200g per scarf - when using 30 sts.

Given that this scarf is designed to give the impression of the mean global temperature changes over the last 100 years, the levels of accuracy versus artistry is a personal choice, so the two variations given allow for increasing complexity and accuracy. Note, also, that the colour transitions (excluding for WW2) are only accurate to within a few years as they depend on what years are chosen to use for long-term averaging.

Simple

Material:
Cool: 100g 8 ply variegated yarn in blue such as DragonflyYarnAU Haven - Hand Dyed DK Yarn
Neutral-warm: 50g 8 ply variegated yarn in white/red such as Bendigo Woollen Mills Villa 8 ply Red tones or
Hot: 50g 8 ply variegated yarn in red/crimson such as YarnDreamsHandDyed Rosebud Dreams Hand Dyed Merino Yarn 8 ply

Method:
Work in garter stitch for following lengths:

Cool for 30cm (12”) (1920-1939).
Neutral-Warm for 10cm (4”) for WW2 (1940-1945)
Cool for 44cm (17.5”) (1946-1976).
Neutral-Warm for 21cm (8”) (1977-1996).
Hot for 56cm (28”); (1997-2020).

More accurate 8 colour spectrum

Use the following measurements/years to create pseudo-gradients for greater accuracy or divide the required length in 10 to give you the length of each decade and work with the dates. Thus for a 160cm (64”) scarf each decade is 16cm (6.5”).

Hottest (so far!): 11cm (4.5”) (2015-202+)
Hot: 21cm (8”) (2002-2014)
Warm: 24cm (9”) (1997-2001)
Neutral2: 21cm (8”) (1988-1996)
Neutral1: 11cm (4.5”) (1973-1987)
Cool: 32.5cm (13”) (1946-1972)
Neutral: 10cm (4”) (1940-1945) WW2
Cold: 16cm (6”) (1930-1939)
Coldest: 15cm (6”) (1921-1929)

Instructions for a 4ply variation using these measurements and giving yarn suggestions is provided in the download.

If posting images on social media please use #showyourstripes