Geek-A-Long
2015 Geek-A-Long: Dexter’s Laboratory
“Quickly, to the laboratory!” – Dexter
Dexter’s Laboratory was created by Genndy Tartakovsky, who also created the fabulous Powerpuff Girls, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, and the short-lived, misunderstood, and fantastic Sym-Bionic Titan. Basically, all of the super cool cartoons in the late 1990s early 2000s. But this post isn’t about Genndy Tartakovsky. It’s about everyone’s favorite redheaded eight-year-old with a Russian accent, Dexter.
Anyone with siblings can relate to Dexter. All he wants to do is tackle his next greatest invention in peace, but his ballet-fueled sister Dee Dee is always breaking into his secret lab, touching his things and breaking his stuff. Still, I was always super jealous of his lab. I was pretty sure that if I had a secret lab, my siblings would never find out about it. When I was in middle school and had recently come to terms with how my closet wouldn’t take me to Narnia, I wanted to turn the attic into a secret lab. The only problem was that I was too short to reach the string to pull down the ladder. Plus, the ladder was pretty conspicuous.
As an adult, I still yearn for a secret lab. Although, I’m more interested in using it to squirrel away my horde of yarn and knit/craft in peace without the prying paws of my cats. But looking back, the question has changed from “Can I poke a hole in the ceiling of my closet to reach my secret lab without anyone knowing?” to “How in God’s name did Dexter’s parents afford that electricity bill?!”
Did you guys ever yearn for a secret lab? Where did you want to put yours?
Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Dexter’s Lab pattern here. Instructions for both knit and crochet are listed in the pattern. When you’re finished making it, don’t forget to tweet or instagram your squares at me @Doctor_Llama or Jac @jac_attacking with the hashtag #geekalong!
If you’re having trouble with double-sided knitting, we have a how-to video here and a tutorial on crochet here. Want to hang out with other people making the blanket? You can find moral support in the Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry here.
~ Megan-Anne
“Omelette du fromage!” – Dexter [The Big Cheese]
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My grandpa was a paints and polymers chemist and inventor, and he HAD a secret lab. Well — it wasn’t a secret, but it was a fully functional lab inside his house. It had its own industrial exhaust system that exhausted into the garage. He used to do his test cooks in the kitchen oven, inevitably right at the time my grandma wanted to use it to make dinner. It was incredibly fun being their granddaughter. I LOVE your designs, especially the GAL ones, and I think my grandpa would have too. Just made a small donation to Child’s Play in his memory.
He sounds like a high-quality grandpa! <3 :D