A retired teacher got an “amazing surprise” when a picture of her knitting went viral on social media at new year.

Diane Francis, from Coventry, had been knitting a temperature scarf to keep a record of every day in 2021.

Her son shared the image on Twitter and the world reacted to the innovative idea:

Over 3.2m people around the world saw the image and it generated over 55,000 likes with hundreds of fellow knitters chipping in with their pictures of similar temperature, weather and mood scarves.

Diane told The Rooftop:

“I’ve been knitting pretty much all my life, but I never expected so many people to see my work!

I mostly just knit for fun and for family, but it has been amazing to see the reaction to the picture from round the world.

There have been scientists, geography teachers, fashion followers and data visualisation people all commenting on my knitting. Apparently there have even been re-tweets from TV weather presenters!

But the best reaction has been from fellow knitters. It just goes to show how we all have something in common with other people, no matter where they are from.”

One fellow knitter, Josie George, had a similar picture go viral on social media a few months ago and has been encouraging others to take up this simple form of knitting ever since. She commented:

“When life is stressful, we can forget to look up at the world around us.

Weather scarves are a great way to notice what’s happening outdoors and to connect to the bigger story unfolding outside our windows each day.

By recording temperature and/or weather, we can pay better attention to the way our seasons are changing, to the way the weather affects our days, our moods, and tune in to the patterns all around us.

Just decide on what aspects you’d like to record and create a key, picking colours to represent appropriate data ranges for your area.

I knit both the highest temperature and the weather for the day with two coloured strands of yarn held together and knit two rows per day to make one stripe.

A garter stitch scarf is perfect for a beginner, but you could use any stitch or pattern you like. Get creative!”

Josie has also provided hints and tips to people who want to take up the knitting craze:

Diane has already started the 2022 version of the scarf with a very clear comparison to 2021:

Images: Diane Francis