2018 Geek-A-Long: Battlestar Galactica

This year, in bold defiance of expectations, we threw out the Geek-A-Long rule book and are including some non-square designs in place of the usual GAL posts. Every fourth week, we will release a premium pattern that was inspired by one of our favorite squares from years past. Check out the Squares page in the 2018 section for the complete schedule. The premium patterns will be released on Ravelry for $6.00 each with $1.00 from every sale getting donated to Child’s Play Charity. But for you, because you deserve it, they will be free! The Geek-A-Long post on premium pattern day will contain a coupon code to get the pattern for free on Ravelry. Just come here, grab your code, and you’ll be all set to download the pattern. So, with no further ado, I present the second pattern in our Geek-A-Long line: Anders Hat and Mitts.

You can get your Anders Hat and Mitts patterns for free by clicking the link below and entering the code ANDERS4EVER at check out. (This coupon code will expire one year and a day from today.)

Get your Anders Hat pattern HERE

Get your Anders Mitts pattern HERE

“Nothing is more epic than love, and no one is more epic than Kara Thrace.” –Me in 2014

I stand by that. 2014 me was pretty intense, but this one holds up. Starbuck and Anders is the greatest love story ever told, and no one will ever convince me otherwise.

NOTE: If you haven’t seen BSG, there are spoilers in this post. You’ve been warned. So go watch it.

I’ve been rewatching Battlestar Galactica on Hulu this month, getting myself in the right mindset for these patterns. It’s such an intense show. It was on the 2014 and 2015 blankets, and it’s the fandom that stirs up the most emotion in me. I hadn’t watched it since 2015, and the older I get, the more feels it gives me. I was rereading the posts from those years, and I had forgotten all about this video:

Yeah. That seems about right. More than once in the last few weeks I’ve been sitting on the couch, knitting, and super tired, and I’m like:

Just one more. I swear, I’m just gonna watch one more tonight.

I used our Geek-A-Long Yarn in ‘Invisible Jet’ and ‘Gotham’ for the projects, and one 100g ball of each color was enough to make both the hat and the mitts. The inspiration for the mitts is pretty self explanatory, it’s the Starbuck and Anders tattoo. Since we got married, I’ve been trying to talk Mr. Llama into getting a match set of them. He’s not really a tattoo guy, he doesn’t have any, but one of these days I know he’ll be on board and want to get them. We’d look so badass with those tattoos.

The mitts are all about Starbuck. They are complicated, they can be what you need them to be (whether that’s fingerless mitts or full mittens) and they are kinda hard. They are an advanced knit for sure. The hat is the Anders to compliment them. It’s an easy beginner level knit. They could comfortably be someone’s first colorwork project. The color work evolves as you work your way up from a solid color, to pinstripes, to basic colorwork, and then back to solid. Anders didn’t know he was a Cylon, but he rolled with it when he found out. I’ve been wanting to make these for a long time. I had the idea for the mitts ages ago, and then, while I made them, I got the idea for the hat. It always feels really good to finish and publish a pattern you’ve been sitting on. It’s very cathartic.

Also, I can’t freaking wait until Mabel the Merciless is old enough to watch these with me. I will call her out of school for the week, order pizza, and we won’t leave the couch until it’s done. That’s honestly one of the things I’m most looking forward to as a mother. When we were photographing the hat and mitts, Mabel asked to have a picture. She LOVES having Jac take her photo. I don’t know why I bother making anything my size, because it took us an hour and full makeup to get good shots of me, and less than a minute for this photo of Mabel.

I know that the day will probably come that she’s not so impressed by our yarn and knits, but man, she was born to model hand knits. I assume in this one she’s thinking:

“Mom. Seriously mom. Why didn’t you just make the hat in my size and save some time?” – Mabel, probably

~Megan-Anne

Nothin’ but the rain.

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.