At the end of 2024, after spraining my ankle just before the holidays, I found myself looking for a new craft to keep me busy while visiting my folks for Christmas. That’s when I fell down the delightful rabbit hole of cross stitch. What started as a simple way to keep my hands occupied (and avoid doing nothing but binge-watching TV all vacation) quickly turned into something I genuinely looked forward to each day. There’s something incredibly satisfying about cross stitching. It helps quiet my mind, and I love watching the bigger picture slowly come to life with each stitch.

Once I returned home after the holidays, I probably spent as much time on Etsy looking for my next project as I did actually stitching. As I explored patterns and ideas, I stumbled across something that immediately caught my attention: temperature cross stitch projects. I’d seen temperature blankets before (and even considered making one at some point, you know, if I knew how to knit or wanted to learn), but translating that concept into a cross stitch piece felt so much more manageable.

If you’re unfamiliar with the idea, a temperature project uses the high, low, or average temperature of each day and assigns it a specific color. Over the course of the year, you stitch one little piece per day, and by the end, you have this beautiful gradient of colors that represents an entire year of weather. It’s kind of like a crafty time capsule, and I love that.

After spending a lot of time on Etsy looking for the perfect pattern and palette, I finally committed to the project. I’m using the average temperature each day and stitching a freaking adorable cat pattern. I fell in love with the design instantly, but wasn’t really into the original color scheme, so I found a different palette from another pattern maker. The vibrant rainbow hues she selected, along with the wide range of colors, captured my attention immediately.

With January in the books, I’m officially 1/12 of the way through my temperature cross stitch journey! The weather was all over the place, but overall pretty cold, so I saw a lot of teals and purples. The average daily temp ranged from 15.4º to 48.2º. Pretty wild range, huh? Watching the days stack up and the cat begin to take shape was honestly so satisfying.

Looking ahead, I can’t wait to see how the colors shift with the changing weather. I’m guessing February will bring more of the same, but I’m still so excited to stitch another adorable little striped cat.

This project has quickly become a quiet daily ritual that I genuinely enjoy. It only takes a few minutes to mark the day and make steady progress on something that will grow right alongside the year.