I have two major goals that implicate swimming in 2024. Number one is to finish my year-of-swimming memoir, which I spent last year busily working away on. Sometimes I think it’s nearly finished and sometimes I think I should throw it in the garbage.

Number two is to make a temperature blanket: Each day I crochet one row of what will be a 365-rowed blanket, with each color corresponding to the water temperature I swam in that day. I spent December deciding on my colors and collecting the yarn.

Since this isn’t another swim everyday challenge, I included a color for the days I don’t swim. But, so far, finding out what temperature the water is has been a huge motivator for getting me to swim and I haven’t missed a day yet.

I’m irrationally psyched about this project. Maybe because I am new to crocheting and still relatively new to wild swimming: it’s two of my obsessions wrapped into one.