Welcome to week eleven of the 2014 Geek-A-Long, a mystery blanket knit-along (or crochet-along for you rebels out there)! If you’re new to the GAL craziness, check out the Geek-A-Long FAQ page for more details and information. Then, meet us back here when you’re ready. For the seasoned pros, let’s talk about the Periodic Table.

This is not the square I intended to do this week.  The original plan was to make a square honoring Veronica Mars.  The movie came out last week and I tried really hard to make a V-Mars square work.  I did a tree with V & L forever, but it looked dumb.  I did Backup, I did a marshmallow, I even tried just knitting Kristen Bell’s face right onto the square.  But none of it looked good.  So I begrudgingly accepted the loss and decided to murder you with science instead.

Before we get into the knitty-gritty of the square, however, I wanted to drop in a reminder that we are having a blog giveaway. Check it out!

I like to consider myself a scientist.  Or at least someone that is going to eventually be a scientist.  As such, I was only interested in groups of elements that make sense together.  I love that K, N, I, and T could certainly be found together in real life.  Potassium Iodide is used to prevent radiation poisoning; as a component in the creation of nuclear weapons, Tritium is used to cause it ;).  Nitrogen is found most places so I don’t feel the need to justify it’s presence.  Science!

I was going for a “biohazard” look when I picked my colors and I really like how they turned out.  My tension was a little off (I was hitting the books pretty hard when I made this one and my concentration was so-so), but that’s fine because the glory of this project is all of that can get fixed when the blanket is put together and washed/blocked.  Over the course of the year you’ll see many contemporary, or even obscure references so I like that a few of them are really “classic”; and this is about as classic science as it gets.  My Chem professor would be so proud.

Post Edited for 5 Year Anniversary

This post has been edited to add an updated version of the KNIT Chemistry pattern to celebrate five years of geeking along. The graph is the same, but the pattern now includes more information. You can download the new KNIT Chemistry pattern by clicking the link. Instructions for both knit and crochet are now listed in the pattern. When you’re finished making it, Instagram your squares at us @lattesandllamasyarn with the hashtag #geekalong! This now concludes the edited portion of this post.

Don’t forget to post links to your finished squares, so we can all ooh and ah together and if you’re having trouble with double-knitting, Jac and I recently shot a how-to video on the subject. You can find it here. There is also a Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry where we have prizes! ::insert eyebrow wiggle here:: As always, please hop on over to Child’s Play and show them your love*!

~ Megan-Anne
Tritium counts and I won’t hear otherwise.

*”Love” in this instance means donating money to benefit sick children.