Pattern Inspiration:

This year, 2016, is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Smart Knits - a knitting group out of Logan, Utah - thought that a great way to celebrate the National Park Service and the sublime lands that it protects was to design a National Parks blanket. The blanket is made up of 60 blanket squares - one to celebrate each of the 59 National Parks and one square to celebrate the National Park Service itself.

Established in 1933 as a national monument, it wasn’t until 1994 that Death Valley became a national park. It is the largest national park in the lower 48 states and has diverse desert environments including salt flats, sand dunes, basins, canyons, and mountains. Badwater Basin is part of this national park, the second lowest point in the western hemisphere, sitting at 282 feet below sea level. The park is also widely known for its many “sailing stones” that can be found in the basins and playas. At Racetrack Playa, within the park, this geological phenomenon of stones moving without human or animal intervention has been studied for over 100 years. It wasn’t until 2014 that a research study was able to prove the previously mysterious stone movement to be a result of ice shove, where ephemeral water freezes, grabs the stones, moves them, and then thaws and evaporates.

This Pattern:

If you purchase this pattern, you will receive only the pattern for the Death Valley National Park blanket square. If you would like to purchase a subscription to all of the blanket squares please buy the eBook.

All proceeds from this pattern will be donated to the National Park Foundation in celebration of the National Park Service Centennial.