Warwickshire woman keeps weather record… by knitting
FORGET Joseph and his dreamcoat – and feast your eyes on something amazing that uses many colours for good reason.
Whatever your views of climate change – more of that later – highly-regarded Stratford seamstress Alex Laycock has faithfully logged daily temperatures every day since 2018… by knitting them.
It was an idea that came from a Facebook challenge and whereas most other people gave up after a while, Alex has stuck with it, to produce a scarf for each year which she is joining together as a blanket.
Having worked in the West End and then the RSC, her day job as a freelance under the banner of Alex Laycock Tailoring, Weddings and more, is thriving – but she has still found time to log the daily temperatures by knitting them.
She said: “I’ve 40 shades of wool in my house all labelled according to the temperature they represent and every day of the year I knit two lines according to the day’s temperature, resulting in a stripy scarf.
“It takes one minute a day and each year is three metres long and 30 centimetres wide.
“Disaster struck in 2020 when I broke my right wrist.
“It was lockdown too but my lovely neighbour Sue took over. Every morning I would plonk wool on her doorstep for her to knit the day.”
Also in lockdown she made contact with a group in Australia doing the same thing.
“They showed me they had used black for 40C, which I never thought I’d be needing, then in 2022 I did.”
While it stands as a fascinating record of changing times and temperatures, it’s also a talking point as it develops.
She added: “Most of my customers get to see it and it provides great conversation.
“I can also show any brides what the average temperature is likely to be on their wedding day.”
And she was reminded of the scarf’s growing reputation when she went to the petrol station the other day and the woman working there asked after it.
It clearly means a great deal to her and she has planned ahead for it to be a long-term project: “It's mentioned in my will which seamstress is going to carry it on and they know because I’ve explained it to them.”
