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.

The northernmost national park in the U.S., Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve protects over 8 million acres of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Established as a national monument in 1978, it was designated a national park in 1980 with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park name comes from wilderness advocate Robert Marshall, who frequented the North Fork Koyukuk region from 1929 to 1939. Marshall called two peaks – Frigid Crags and Boreal Mountain – the gates from Alaska’s central Brooks Range into the far north Arctic. With Noatak National Preserve and Kobuk Valley National Park, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is the centerpiece of one of the world’s largest parkland areas. Although she has traveled to other areas in Alaska, the designer has not yet had the opportunity to visit Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. However, she would like to plan the most epic of backpacking trips to experience the true wilderness of the park, and hopefully get a glimpse of the northern lights. This square features the aurora borealis that lights the winter skies of Gates of the Arctic following the endless light of summer.

This Pattern:

If you purchase this pattern, you will receive only the pattern for the Gates of the Arctic 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.