2018 Geek-A-Long: Narnia

We don’t say “cheese” when taking a picture in my house, we shout a Narnian battle cry, and I’m not bothered by the weird looks we get when this happens in public. The Chronicles of Narnia are probably the closest thing to religion that Mr. Llama and I have given Mabel the Merciless. We were both raised Catholic, but religion just isn’t our thing. I don’t have an issue with religion, but it’s not a part of our lives. I didn’t really give it that much thought until I had a baby, and all of a sudden that’s one of the questions you field constantly.

“Will you find out the sex ahead of time?”

“What’s the baby’s name?” Which is almost certainly followed up by, “that’s an OK name. But how about [insert objectively stupid name here]?”

“Where will you have the baby christened?”

We went rogue and had no christening. But, I put the box set of the Chronicles of Narnia in her nursery, and I feel like that’s a wash. Anyhow, I bring this up because as I was getting ready to write this, I reread the original Narnia post from 2014 (so long ago!) and marveled at how much having Mabel changed my perspective on the series and it’s overt religious overtones. Narnia will always be incredibly important to me and, as Mabel gets older, I’m excited to share it with her. Narnia was deeply rooted escapism for me when I was a kid and going through a lot of stuff I didn’t understand, but needed to get away from. I think most of it is empowering, but now that I look at it through the lens of a parent, I’m think I’ll just skip the last book when I read the series to Mabel now that she’s old enough to start understanding these things. Susan Pevensie is not allowed into heaven because she likes parties, nylons, and lipstick. I never really got that as a kid. The whole thing is fairly glossed over in The Last Battle, and it wasn’t until I read them to Mabel when she was still an infant that it really struck me.

I didn’t know this until recently, but apparently, the last battle was a major point of inspiration for one of my other favorite childhood authors, Phillip Pullman. He intended his Golden Compass Series to be an “anti-Narnia”. I don’t want this all to come off like I’m saying we should all stop reading Narnia. Over 100,000 million collective Narnia books have been sold, and I honestly want every child to have the joy of sitting in their closet, squeezing their eyes closed, and imagining they can almost feel a chilly breeze coming from the forest behind the closet wall, or that they can almost see the lamppost burning if they just squint hard enough. I’m a strong advocate for critical fan-girling. I can love it and question it at the same time. What’s the point of books if not to make us question something we thought we knew? So read them, and love them, but don’t be afraid to take an evolving look at them too.

Rooknevermore nominated The Chronicles of Narnia in the Fight for Your Fandom thread to be on the 2018 blanket:

As one of the classic fantasy epics, it has been loved by generations and has had a lasting impact on culture far beyond its own literary genre.

It was considered groundbreaking in its time, has enjoyed numerous reimaginings in other media and has helped to create three generations of fantasy lovers.

It is a classic example of the coming-of-age fantasy epic which has come to be arguably the most powerful iteration of the fantasy genre due to its ability to span generations and the timelessness of the stories.

I think the square should be the image with which it all began; the lamp-post.

We agree and the lamppost was actually the original Narnia square back in 2014!

The lamppost holds up as a square, it’s still one of my all time favorites. So for a revamp we wanted to go in a different direction. For the 2018 blanket, we decided on Aslan. You can try to sing the square into being, but we recommend having some yarn on standby just in case that doesn’t work out.

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download Aslan – Narnia Revisited pattern here. Instructions and charts for both knit and crochet are listed in the pattern. When you’re finished making it, don’t forget to Instagram your squares at us @lattesandllamasyarn 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

“Girls aren’t very good at keeping maps in their brains”, said Edmund. “That’s because we’ve got something in them”, replied Lucy.

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