The year 2016 was 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. Since 2016, four new parks have been established. We have designed squares for these new parks.

White Sands National Monument was designated in 1933 and redesignated as White Sands National Park in 2019. Located in New Mexico, this site preserves a massive and unusual dunefield: the world’s largest dunefield made entirely of gypsum sand. It is the mineral gypsum that gives these dunes their glistening white appearance. Gypsum is an evaporite mineral, which means that it forms by precipitating out of water as the water evaporates. It should be no surprise then that this massive accumulation of gypsum formed from two main processes resulting from the regional climate warming since the last ice age. First, the melting snow and rain dissolved minerals from the surrounding mountains and carried the elements that form gypsum down into the basin, then as the area warmed and dried, water evaporated and left millions of gypsum crystals behind. Strong winds in the dry climate transport the crystals into dunes, just as “regular sand” dunes are formed elsewhere in the world. This square depicts these rippled white gypsum sands extending into the horizon as far as the eye can see.

This Pattern:

If you purchase this pattern, you will receive only the pattern for the White Sands 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.