The San Juan mountains where I live in Colorado are the source of the Rio Grande river, which winds its way down to the Gulf of Mexico. My little town of Bayfield, Colorado has only one traffic light and is surrounded by mountains, ranches, national forests, and the Southern Ute and Navajo reservations. You can still see the old west around town in the buildings and in the traditions of the people who choose to live so far from the nearest interstate highway.

The weaving traditions of the American southwest inspired the Rio Grande Stripe. This easy crochet interpretation of a serape-style stripe requires only single and double crochet stitches, US terms.

Skill level: Easy

The pattern includes two size options.
Regular Size: about 40” (102 cm) wide and 58” (147 cm) long

Uses: throw blanket, bath towel, beach towel, yoga blanket

Mini Size: about 20” by 25” (51 by 64 cm) for a blanket or 15” by 20” (38 by 51 cm) for a towel

Uses: kitchen towel, hand towel, baby car seat or stroller blanket, diaper changing mat.

You can adjust your starting chain to make any size blanket or towel you like.

Worsted weight yarn. The samples used Lily Sugar ‘n Cream yarn (100% cotton, 120 yards (109 m) per 71-gram ball).

You will need about about 1,920 yards (1,756 m) total for the regular size blanket: about 1,560 yards (1,426 m) total for all the main colors combined and about 180 yards (163 m) of each contrast color.

You will need about 48 yards (432 m) total for a mini size: about 60 yards (54 m) of each of the 6 main colors and 60 yards (54 m) of each of the 2 contrast colors.

The pattern PDF includes a photo tutorial for keeping your edges straight, changing colors, and crocheting over the yarn tails. Also includes a solid color stripe variation.

Share your creation with #riograndestripe on Instagram!

Please feel free to sell finished items made from this pattern as long as you give design credit as “Rio Grande crochet pattern by Pretty Peaceful”. Not for commercial use. Please do not share photos of this pattern, only share the link to the pattern PDF on Ravelry or Etsy. Thank you for your support.