The Sanctuary Stripes is a wonderful pattern built around one contrast color, with all kinds of different colors alongside it. For this reason, this pattern is perfect for an advent yarn box full of mini skeins or perhaps a load of scraps and leftovers in your yarn collection.

The name of the pattern is chosen specifically because this pattern takes you out of your head due to the easy stitch work and repetitive way of making it. You only need to know the technique used and know how to make a granny stripe to complete this. It helped me a lot during times when I had a lot on my mind and needed a distraction that required a high level of attention. It was my sanctuary place for a long time, actually.

General information about the pattern:

Yarn requirements: You can use different brands of yarn for this blanket. I will also not give a total of yarn as you can let this blanket grow to any size possible. It is just a start-up for whatever you like to make. I have used two Colors. Color B will be a fingering weight (sock) yarn in a range of 360-420 meters of yarn per 100 grams. This will be, for example, all the mini skeins out of your advent calendar. As a divider, I used Color A, a dark blue yarn with the same conditions; this can also be any brand you like as long as both colors are in the same condition level. For example, my fingering weight yarn were mini skeins of Veluwsch Verfgoed sock hand-dyed yarn combined with Veluwsch Verfgoed sock in colorway Nightwood as a dividing color. You can take anything you like as long as the weight of both color yarns is the same.

NOTE: You can take any type or weight of yarn to do this - you will only have a different outcome in size. If you don’t want a lot of ends to weave in, you can also use a gradient, color-changing yarn as Color B and continue without attaching and fastening off the Color B thread.

Needed for one stripe:

Color A: any fingering (sock) yarn (10 grams of yarn / approx. 29 – 39 meters of yarn) (I used Veluwsch Verfgoed Nightwood)

Color B: a yarn matching the same conditions as Color A (10 grams of yarn / approx. 29 - 39meters of yarn) (I used Veluwsch Verfgoed mini sock skeins in different colors - there is no full color list, as some colors used were temporary and are already discontinued.)

Hook size needed: To achieve a nice drape, I recommend a full-size hook that is more appropriate for the chosen yarn. I used a 4.0mm crochet hook for the fingering-weight sock yarn.

Size: There is no final size for the entire blanket; you can start and choose your own size by adding as many stripes as you wish to increase the height. You can adjust the width by adding or removing 9 sts. The stitch multiple in this blanket is 9 + 2 side stitches.

For the stitch count I used in the pattern, your blanket will be 120cm/48 inches wide. Each stripe adds 5 cm/2 inches of height.

The pattern is nothing more than a simple granny stripe - the only difference here is to work with two colors in a Row and change them during crocheting. It is a technique to understand, and therefore there is a photo tutorial in the pattern. I also made a video tutorial for a more visual approach, and there is a chart as well, in addition to the standard written pattern. So you have all the options to make this pattern a success.

You can download the free pattern as a PDF file containing all the information needed. The pattern is available in English (US) and Dutch.