Mid-Hudson Libraries Tempestry Collection Seeks Local Knitters

The Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) is celebrating Earth Month by announcing a new collaboration with The Tempestry Project. MHLS is recruiting more than 100 knitters across the Hudson Valley to help tell the story of our changing climate as a collaborative community art project.

One of the ongoing problems inherent in discussions about climate change is the vast scale of the conversation. The Tempestry Project’s goal is to scale this down into something that is accurate, tangible, relatable, and beautiful. Blending fiber art with temperature data creates a bridge between global climate and our own personal experiences through knitted temperature tapestries, or ‘Tempestries.’

A Tempestry (or temperature tapestry) is a knitted scarf-sized wall hanging that shows the daily high temperatures for a specific location and year. Collectively, a group of Tempestries for one location (such as the Mid-Hudson Libraries Collection which will cover Hudson Valley data from 1895-2025) creates a powerful visual representation of changing temperatures over time.

“Libraries are a natural catalyst for this community art project,” said Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, MHLS Executive Director, “Libraries work every day to create a world in which individuals, families and communities thrive through access to information, resources, learning environments, and library services.”

Tempestry “kits” come with the pattern, based on climate data – obtained from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that was collected from the Mohonk Mountain House, the only continuous data collection point in the Hudson Valley since 1895 – and yarn that has been sourced from a responsible vendor here in the U.S. in the lengths necessary to reflect the data provided.

Knitters can choose which year they knit the data from – something meaningful like an important moment in their town’s history, or a special occasion in a knitters’ life. Tempestries made for this collection will remain with the collection for display throughout the Hudson Valley region.

Ask your local library how to get involved or go directly to https://www.tempestryproject.com/product/mid-hudson-libraries-tempestry-collection-kits/. Mid-Hudson Libraries Tempestry Collection Kits cost $81.00. Each Kit includes:

• One organza gift bag, 12”x14”
• Individually-wound bobbins of Tempestry wool yarn calculated to match the number of days in each temperature range for your selected year
• One Original Tempestry color card
• One project label
• One Original Tempestry project pattern/guidelines
• One Original Tempestry worksheet (this includes the daily high temperature data for the year, the corresponding color for each day’s temperature, a progress column) using data from Mohonk Preserve

Finished Tempestries should be returned by the end of December 2025 to your local MHLS member library or shipped to Mid-Hudson Library System, 103 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.

About Us

The Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) works to create a world in which individuals, families and communities thrive when they have access to information, resources, learning environments and library services that respect the triple bottom line of social equity, economic feasibility, and environmental stewardship. MHLS is the first public library system in the country to be certified through the Sustainability Libraries Initiative’s award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program.

MHLS is a cooperative public library system chartered by the New York State Board of Regents and overseen by the New York State Education Department via the Division of Library Development (DLD). MHLS is dedicated to working together with sixty-six (66) member libraries in the Mid-Hudson region to strengthen local library services while saving local tax dollars. For more information, visit www.midhudson.org or follow the library system on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About the Tempestry Project

The Tempestry Project is personal and collaborative fiber art, environmental awareness, and climate activism via data representation all rolled into a sprawling community of friends, artists, crafters, teachers, scientists, activists, nature lovers, and more. Learn more at www.tempestryproject.com.