If there are two pieces of wisdom that have served me above all others throughout my adult life, they have to be:

Don’t panic.

-and-

Don’t forget your towel.

In the spirit of staying calm and dry for week 39 of the Geek-A-Long, we honor The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I love this book. What makes it really special for me though is that it is one of only two books I’ve ever read, loved, and then loved the movie even more. The other, if you’re wondering, is The Maltese Falcon.

Hitchhikers Guide is one of those fandoms that shaped the way a particular genre is “allowed” to behave. Before authors like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchet there wasn’t really such a thing as “funny science fiction.” Sci-fi was supposed to be hard and cold, filled with adventure and terror, but not a lot of laughs. A fun fact about Hitchhiker’s is that it actually originated as a radio program that grew into a book series.

For this week’s square, I considered a few looks, but ultimately landed on the classic thumb logo. I can’t even tell you how long it took to get this thumb to look just right. It was worth the extra time though. I feel like I did justice to one of my favorite books.

Post Edited for 5 Year Anniversary

This post has been edited to add an updated version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide 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 Hitchhiker’s Guide 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 tweet or instagram them at me @Doctor_Llama or Jac @jac_attacking with the hashtag geekalong, so we can all oooh and ah together. We even have a fancy new GAL Participation Button you can put on your blog or your Geek-A-Long posts. You can grab the html out of the side bar or find it here.

If you’re having trouble with double-sided knitting, we have a how-to video here and you can find moral support in the Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry here. We’re even raffling off some sweet prizes for our members at the end of the year! You can learn more about it in the group or on the GAL Benefactors page.

~ Megan-Anne
 “It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.”

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