Knitted my seed phrase into a blanket. Clever backup or stupid idea?

[standardnepo]

I’m pretty new to Bitcoin and I’ve seen a lot of advice saying not to store seed phrases digitally, not to take photos of them, not to keep them in cloud storage, etc.

I’m a hobby knitter, so I came up with a somewhat unusual backup method. I knitted my seed phrase into a small blanket (around 1m x 1.5m). The numbers are represented through different colors and patterns, so if you look at it, it just looks like a decorative knitted piece. Nobody would ever guess it contains anything related to Bitcoin. I also made a smaller copy of the same blanket as a backup. Both versions are kept separately, and I still have the seed phrase written on paper in a safe place.

My thinking was that if I lose one backup method, I’d still have others. The blanket is stored under my bed and looks like a random handmade accessory. Am I introducing risks that I’m not seeing? Am I being paranoid?

[hd49728]

I’m pretty new to Bitcoin and I’ve seen a lot of advice saying not to store seed phrases digitally, not to take photos of them, not to keep them in cloud storage, etc.

I’m a hobby knitter, so I came up with a somewhat unusual backup method. I knitted my seed phrase into a small blanket (around 1m x 1.5m).

It's not durable, not waterproof, not fireproof for example, and that means the small piece of blanket can not protect your wallet backup from possible physical damages.

Some ideas and recommendations for wallet backups.
How to back up a seed phrase?
21 tips for securing your bitcoins.
Security checklist.
[LIST] Bitcoin Seed Backup Tools.
Crypto Security - Additional Protection For Your Seed/Private Keys.
Metal Bitcoin seed storage reviews.

[Majestic-milf]

 I don't know about you but personally, that's a risky business. What if the blanket gets missing. Or worse, burnt?. It's not a great idea to keep something as invaluable in a material like that cause what if overtime the material begins to wear out and the text becomes visible?
It's a good thing that you wrote it down on paper and I'd advice you find somewhere safe to deposit that, maybe keeping it in a bank will be much better, just don't ever attempt to keep your phrase in a digital form as you stand the risk of losing it.
 Prevention is better than regret, so instead of waiting for the danger to come, you can avoid it by also engraving it in metal plates as those can stand unforseen circumstances Incase you're not okay with storing it in a bank or a home safe as the case may be.

[standardnepo]

It's not durable, not waterproof, not fireproof for example, and that means the small piece of blanket can not protect your wallet backup from possible physical damages.

Some ideas and recommendations for wallet backups.
How to back up a seed phrase?
21 tips for securing your bitcoins.
Security checklist.
[LIST] Bitcoin Seed Backup Tools.
Crypto Security - Additional Protection For Your Seed/Private Keys.
Metal Bitcoin seed storage reviews.

Thank you very much for the list, I’m going through it now.

[Smartprofit]

A "seed" is a sequence of 12 or 24 English words. So, I don't quite understand how they could be hidden by knitting a small blanket. 🤔

If this sequence of English words isn't visible to other people, it means you're using some kind of encryption (and therefore decryption) method. And here, in my opinion, there's a very big risk. You could forget this decryption method yourself and then be unable to decrypt the information. Human memory is very unreliable... As a result, the "seed" would be lost.

Theoretically, both of your blankets could be damaged. For example, your relatives could throw them away without your knowledge. Pets could damage them. Or perhaps your house would catch fire or flood. Many similar catastrophic situations could happen in life. In any of these scenarios, you would lose access to your bitcoins.

But the idea itself is very exciting!  If you leave your blankets to your descendants without telling them how to decipher the information on them, they'll spend interesting and exciting years trying to find the hidden treasure. It'll be a story like "The Count of Monte Cristo"! 🙆

[Die_empty]

My thinking was that if I lose one backup method, I’d still have others. The blanket is stored under my bed and looks like a random handmade accessory. Am I introducing risks that I’m not seeing? Am I being paranoid?

The seed phrase should be hidden so that only authorised people have access to it. It would be difficult to hide a blanket due to its size. One can easily hide a piece of paper due to its small size.

Second, don't assume that nobody will know that those words are not a seed phrase. Those who have knowledge about Bitcoin would easily know that it's a seed phase that was knitted on the blanket. 

I don't think this is a good idea because of the size and under your bed can be accessed easily.

[sergiorus]

I’m pretty new to Bitcoin and I’ve seen a lot of advice saying not to store seed phrases digitally, not to take photos of them, not to keep them in cloud storage, etc.

I’m a hobby knitter, so I came up with a somewhat unusual backup method. I knitted my seed phrase into a small blanket (around 1m x 1.5m). The numbers are represented through different colors and patterns, so if you look at it, it just looks like a decorative knitted piece. Nobody would ever guess it contains anything related to Bitcoin. I also made a smaller copy of the same blanket as a backup. Both versions are kept separately, and I still have the seed phrase written on paper in a safe place.

My thinking was that if I lose one backup method, I’d still have others. The blanket is stored under my bed and looks like a random handmade accessory. Am I introducing risks that I’m not seeing? Am I being paranoid?

I don't understand what numbers you meant here because seed phrase only contains words...

Anyway, that's a decent strategy but I would definitely make more than one backup and store at least one of them in a different place.

[Charles-Tim]

Just be careful of the backup you are going for. I always prefer my seed phrase on a paper and have two other backups stored in different locations. I still prefer this method always because I also use passphrase to extend the seed phrase to generate different wallet for me which is enough again offline attacks.

[Ucy]

That's OK as long as no one can see or understand the information.
An extra step you should take that may be necessary, depending on factors like disaster, is to inscribe the seedphrase on multiple non-corrosive weather proof metals and hide in areas that are hard-to-reach or discover by disasters and humans. I typically suggest burying underground..
If you don't want to spend money on metals you could use scraps or metals (stronger ones) used especially for Canned beverages

[Cryptomultiplier]

You are not being paranoid OP because as humans we should try out various ways we think is safer to store our seed phrases but the concern I have stems from the risk of losing your seed phrases to a disaster like fire hazard or flood where you have to abandon your house to scale to safety.
Am also concerned if you can actually arrange the seed phrase according to the order it is used, because I do believe that you can't just randomly type in your seed phrases without following the order in which it was generated and that may be an issue for you when you consider imputing it to access your cold wallet storage.

The best bet still is to use a steel plate that could be worn around without raising suspicion or kept away safely in a safety box somewhere that Incase if fire or flood disaster, you can easily access it and still log in.

[Charles-Tim]

That's OK as long as no one can see or understand the information.
An extra step you should take that may be necessary, depending on factors like disaster, is to inscribe the seedphrase on multiple non-corrosive weather proof metals and hide in areas that are hard-to-reach or discover by disasters and humans. I typically suggest burying underground..

Having the seed phrase in different locations can be a good thing, there are some natural disasters that can render the backup useless. Example is volcanic eruption or an heavy flooding with massive hurricane. But individual should know the kind of natural disaster they can have in their region and prefer for it.

If you don't want to spend money on metals you could use scraps or metals (stronger ones) used especially for Can beverages

Washers are not expensive and it does not affect your privacy.

[mcdouglasx]

My thinking was that if I lose one backup method, I’d still have others. The blanket is stored under my bed and looks like a random handmade accessory. Am I introducing risks that I’m not seeing? Am I being paranoid?

I think no storage method is 100% reliable, especially with materials that degrade over time. Besides, you could have woven it in a way that no one would understand, like some kind of ciphertext, but you might forget how to decipher it over the years. It's almost like memorizing words, but instead of memorizing the words, you memorize the decryption method.

But everyone stores their seeds according to the security method that works best for them, but I would recommend against using biodegradable material.

[MusaMohamed]

Having the seed phrase in different locations can be a good thing, there are some natural disasters that can render the backup useless. Example is volcanic eruption or an heavy flooding with massive hurricane. But individual should know the kind of natural disaster they can have in their region and prefer for it.

Diversifying bitcoin fund to different wallets, and withe each wallet I would like to have multiple wallet backups. Another step of diversification is storing wallet backups at different locations. Diasters, catastrophes can occur anytime, anywhere so if we can diversifying risk, we will be able to secure our bitcoins better.

Years ago like Beirut explosion raised a lot of discussions but lessons can be learned from that explosive accident.
Beirut explosion - Lesson to learn from this.

[HustleZ]

I’m pretty new to Bitcoin and I’ve seen a lot of advice saying not to store seed phrases digitally, not to take photos of them, not to keep them in cloud storage, etc.

I’m a hobby knitter, so I came up with a somewhat unusual backup method. I knitted my seed phrase into a small blanket (around 1m x 1.5m). The numbers are represented through different colors and patterns, so if you look at it, it just looks like a decorative knitted piece. Nobody would ever guess it contains anything related to Bitcoin. I also made a smaller copy of the same blanket as a backup. Both versions are kept separately, and I still have the seed phrase written on paper in a safe place.

My thinking was that if I lose one backup method, I’d still have others. The blanket is stored under my bed and looks like a random handmade accessory. Am I introducing risks that I’m not seeing? Am I being paranoid?

It’s not only not durable and long-lasting but it has the risk of being seen by any person thet has access to your house and the room which makes it easier for people to take that. As the first reply advised you, you should see those links and adapt more ways of how to save a seed because a seed is the most important thing of a person with crypto and if it goes in someone’s hands then it means you have lost all the assets you hold. You should take it more seriously and have multiple more secure ways to store it though i appreciate the effort you put for a seed phrase.

[coinlary]

It's  not that bad, we've seen worse.
100cm  or 150 cm  blanket looks big but a little bit less suspicious unless used constantly and not out of reach to anyone in the household. 

Apart from exposing it, constant usage would lead to detachment where part or all of the phrase could become less visible or stripped off the blanket. It is water resistant and that's a +1 but giving it a rating won't go beyond 45% for me.

[m2017]

I’m pretty new to Bitcoin and I’ve seen a lot of advice saying not to store seed phrases digitally, not to take photos of them, not to keep them in cloud storage, etc.

Why didn't you post a photo of the knitted blanket with the seed phrase here (I'd like to see what it looks like)?

I’m a hobby knitter, so I came up with a somewhat unusual backup method. I knitted my seed phrase into a small blanket (around 1m x 1.5m).

Well, at least it's a blanket and not a sweater (with the seed phrase embroidered on the chest).

The numbers are represented through different colors and patterns, so if you look at it, it just looks like a decorative knitted piece.

So, you encrypted the information in the form of patterns and colors? Does that mean you have a "key" to decrypt the information? Or are you relying solely on memory?

Nobody would ever guess it contains anything related to Bitcoin.

Like no one? You just told the whole world, and now everyone will be scrutinizing every knitted blanket.

I also made a smaller copy of the same blanket as a backup.

How sweet.

Both versions are kept separately, and I still have the seed phrase written on paper in a safe place.

What's stopping you from transferring seed phrase to a piece of metal? Neither paper nor a blanket are fireproof.

My thinking was that if I lose one backup method, I’d still have others. The blanket is stored under my bed and looks like a random handmade accessory. Am I introducing risks that I’m not seeing? Am I being paranoid?

You're a creative paranoid. I wonder how a baker (given skills) would try to preserve seed phrase? Would they bake a pie with seed phrase?

You're creating a risk of losing seed phrase because you're using unreliable (vulnerable) storage media (material used). That's your problem.

[CryptoYar]

In fact this is one of the most creative back-up strategies that I've seen in here, but you are using security through hiding things. Yes, a random robber who visits your home would not look at a decorative blanket and think "Bitcoin," but it is physical weaknesses that fabric simply cannot survive over extended period of time.
But what if you have a pipe burst, a house fire or simply moths and mold under your bed getting to the yarn? Most significantly, it is big gamble on your future memory. If you had to go back to wallet 10 years from now in emergency when you were under much of stress, it is easy to get the complex color pattern wrong when turning it back to exact cryptographic numbers. Assuming paper backup, consider fireproof steel plate for the secondary storage. It removes all environmental dangers.

[Frankolala]

Isn't this blanket what you use often and your seed phrase shouldn't be exposed to a third-party. I don't like the idea. We have different threads on how to keep your seed phrase safe. I think keeping it simple by writing it on a piece of paper with two backups in different locations far from each other is good. Lastly, adding a passphrase will give you a better security.

[BlackHatCoiner]

The biggest unseen risk is actually you forgetting the color/pattern cipher years down the line. Definitely look into metal plates for your primary safe storage.

I would generally stay away from coming up with "creative" methods or methods that are "fun". I remind you that this is your long term savings. This is something that you must be able to recover at any time, and maybe even your kids someday.

[Ambatman]

I don't know much about knitting
But I'm thinking what you doing is an high work and less reward form of back up.
Wear and Tear can change the words
Let's not forget the fact that it isn't durable
And blankets with such colorful words are quite conspicuous.
Sometimes going simple is the right way
We don't have to over complicate things.