The five-year anniversary of the Geek-A-Long is a lot like the first time I rode a roller coaster. The excitement as my mom drove us to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The fleeting moments of doubt and fear as we stood in line to get in and then the crippling anxiety and fear as we queued up to ride the Blue Streak. As it’s officially 2018 and we’re merely days away from releasing the first square of the year, I have definitely worked my way through the excitement and fleeting moments of doubt all the way into crippling anxiety. This afternoon, as I updated the ever-growing list of fandom nominations for the 2018 blanket, I’ve turned into a dumpster fire of emotions. What have I gotten us into? How are we going to balance this with our day-to-day jobs of creating new patterns and dying yarn? And why in God’s name did I convince Megan-Anne that we should give control of my our baby to complete strangers?!

I’m pretty sure that’s why I have a stress migraine at the moment, which is not at all related to the copious amounts of alcohol I had last night while playing Pugmire.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdZOosMl22l/?taken-by=jac_attacking

Side Note: If you’re into tabletop gaming, I highly recommend Pugmire. The system uses the D20 Open Gaming License, and everyone plays a dog in a post-apocalyptic fantasy. I was a Mastiff, Megan-Anne played a dachshund, and Alena was a Corgi. The game was a howl. Half the fun, other than making dog-related puns, was using Google Image search to show others the cute or fierce puppy faces we made a certain parts of the game. Pugmire could be played as dark instead of the lighthearted romp we did to keep it fun and family friendly, but I recommend it either way. We liked it so much that we’re turning our one off game into a monthly thing!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdY39kCHMBi/?taken-by=doctor_llama

Hangovers and RPGs aside, I am freaking out. I’m a planner. I make lists. I’m designing a knitter friendly calendar/planner, because I’m tired of not getting enough out of other traditional planners. And leaving the Geek-A-Long in the hands of other people for an entire year is not the freeing experience I thought it would be. So, if you run into me at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC a couple of weeks from now and I have crazy eyes, don’t take it personally. Say hello and know that my inner control freak is dying a slow, painful death. Eventually, I’ll make it onto that metaphorical roller coaster and I’ll wonder why I ever doubted such a magnificently thrilling, fun thing.

I am really excited about some of the nominations though. A few of them are a bit lower on the list since they were just made, but I hope they climb the ranks this year and make it onto the blanket. Here are a few of my favorites that I have my fingers crossed for:

• Orville
• Teen Wolf
• Willow
• Dresden Files
• Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
• Steven Universe
• Wheel of Time
• Gravity Falls
• Labyrinth

If you’d like to get in on the voting or want to nominate your favorite geeky fandom that we haven’t memorialized in yarn yet (you can view the complete list here), go to the Geek-A-Long Ravelry group and check out the Fight for Your Fandom discussion thread.

You’ll notice that more than a few people nominated fandoms that we’ve already done in the past. Four years and 192 squares later, I guess it isn’t surprising that people aren’t intimately familiar with each and every Geek-A-Long square we’ve released. And let’s be honest, there are certain fandoms that I’ll be okay with making more of until the end of time. But I thought that in addition to sharing who is at the top of the leaderboard currently, I would also link you to some of those squares.

The 2018 Leaderboard

1. Doctor Who [Torchwood; River Song; Doctor Who; Van Gogh’s Doctor Who]
2. Monty Python
3. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them [Gryffindor; Ravenclaw; Hufflepuff; Slytherin]
4. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy [Hitchhikers Guide]
5. The Princess Bride [The Princess Bride]
6. Star Wars [Star Wars]
7. Stranger Things
8. Bill Nye the Science Guy
9. The Hobbit [Lord of the Rings]
10. Guardians of the Galaxy [Baby Groot]
11. Buffy the Vampire Slayer [Buffy]
12. Labyrinth
13. Discworld
14. The Muppets [Bunsen and Beaker]
15. Sailor Moon
16. Supernatural [Supernatural]
17. The Dragonriders of Pern
18. Stargate SG-1 [Samantha Carter]
19. Mystery Science Theater 3000
20. The Last Unicorn
21. The Chronicles of Narnia [Narnia]
22. Firefly [Firefly; This Land]
23. Alien
24. Hayao Miyazaki [Studio Ghibli]

I’m not saying you should rescind your votes, but keep in mind that we’re only releasing 24 squares this year. So if you want to see Labyrinth make it, maybe don’t vote for some of the big ones we’ve already covered? Also, nominations and voting are open all the way until November, so you have the power to add to and completely shake up this list! Or keep it the same way? Whatever. This year is all about you. <3

~ Jac
I will never apologize for dog puns.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider making a donation to Child’s Play Charity. Here is a direct link to our official donation widget benefiting the charity. Please help us raise $1,000 this year. No contribution is too small! Wanna make your donation go even further? Lattes & Llamas will donate $1 for every skein of Geek-A-Long Yarn purchased. Ask your local yarn store to carry GAL Yarn or get it through our website.