2018 Geek-A-Long: Mixtape/Guardians of the Galaxy

We are double dipping in the leaderboards this week! And unlike with that one friend of yours that always double dips chips at a party, when we do it, it’s awesome. You guys nominated and upvoted way more fandoms than we could possibly fit onto one blanket. Some of your great ideas got stashed for future years.

While we’ll always leave some spots on each year’s blanket “blank” when we plan the designs, it was only this year for the fifth year anniversary of the Geek-A-Long that you guys got to choose every square. We’re nearly at the end of the year, and it’s been a wild ride on our end. We kept the voting process open all year, which meant the leaderboard changed regularly. Week-on-week, we didn’t know what was going to be on top until it was square design day. One thing Jac and I talked about a lot though, was that we felt bad that a lot of great nominations never made it onto the blanket. Don’t worry, you’ll see some of your ideas next year, but still we wish we could have fit more on. So we were really hyped when we realized we could perfectly hit two leaderboard fandoms in just one square!

Bookwyrm nominated Mixtapes to the 2018 blanket:

Okay… I don’t know if this counts as a “fandom”, but I know a lot of us used to geek out over it and spent hours and hours of our lives fretting over how to make it perfect.

I nominate the Mixtape!

1. Those of us who made them spent countless hours planning them, making them, “borrowing” music to put on them…
2. We didn’t call it “geeking out” at the time, but that’s essentially what it was… especially when your crush made you a mixtape.
3. 80’s things are retro and cool now, so that should include the mixtape.
4. The “cool kids” I knew didn’t bother with mixtapes as much as those of us who were geeks did… they didn’t take the time to find the perfect blend of songs and the perfect song order.

Princesscutie nominated Guardians of the Galaxy:

I have another nomination that I can’t believe I didn’t think of sooner: Guardians of the Galaxy

I know there was already a dancing baby Groot square, but I just love these movies and characters so much. They are just so funny and action-packed and poignant. I love that there are very strong female characters plus Drax and Rocket and Groot are awesome. I can’t wait for teenage Groot in the new avengers movie And as an added bonus, Peter Quill is the same age as me so all his crazy 80’s references make me laugh. I’d just love to see another character or the whole gang get a square.

So, admittedly, this isn’t a square of one of the characters, but a mixtape is undeniably GotG.

This one, if you execute it the way we did, has a higher challenge rating than the other squares this year. We have included extra charts in the pattern so that you can choose how hard you want to make it. I have personally knit nearly 200 squares at this point, so I was looking for a little extra challenge this last week to keep things fun. In addition to the crochet chart and instructions, there are three knitting options this week:

1. Basic: that’s your regular pattern with no bells and whistles. Mirror image on the back, and the red stripes run to the edge of the square.
2. Hard Mode: This one uses 3-color double-knitting. You could also execute it with duplicate st for the white and/or red. This chart will have a mirror image on the back.
3. I-Like-the-Punishment Mode: All the features of Hard Mode, but with extreme double knitting!* For this one, you’ll work the red in 3-color double-knitting, and then add the white at the end with duplicate st. (If you want, the white is less essential to the look than the red, which is why it isn’t shown in the extreme chart, the square actually looked quite nice before I added the white as well). This is what I did.

If you go for option two or three, and you haven’t done 3-color double-knitting before, I’d test it out on a swatch first. The extra color usually means really long floats of at least one of the other colors. That can result in a puckered square if you aren’t careful about it. Also, you have to decide which color to work on the flip side when working the 3rd color on the right side if you aren’t working in extreme. Here’s what I recommend on this one: Using my square as an example the gold is MC, the dark blue is CC1, red is CC2, and white is CC3.

I used intarsia to execute my square, and it came out very nicely. You’ll need two balls of every color except CC3, which we’ll do at the end in duplicate st. When you reach the first row that has CC2 in it, work with the first two balls of MC and CC1 until you reach the first st of CC2 indicated in the pattern. Join both balls of CC2. Drop MC and CC1, leaving them in front of the work (trust me, you’ll be glad you did on the next row when they are conveniently now behind your work since you turned it) and work in double knitting with the two balls of CC2, until you reach the other side, when MC and CC1 are once again used. Drop both strands of CC2, leaving them in front, and join the other two balls of MC and CC, and work to the end. As you continue, when you reach a color change, treat this just like regular-less-exciting-one-sided-intarsia. As you switch from one color to another (so, from knitting with MC and CC1, to knitting with two balls of CC2) bring the color about to be used up from under the color you are dropping so that they are twisted at the jog between them. This prevents the formation of holes. As always, remember that we have an amazing community of supportive Geek-A-Long knitters on the ravelry forum, and since there’s some new techniques to try out this week, post there if you have tips, tricks, or trouble working it!

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Mixtape/Guardians of the Galaxy 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

I was thinking about X-Men earlier, like you do, and I actually just wrote that as X-treme double-knitting. And then pictured Wolverine and Professor X sitting around arguing over English vs. Continental. You’re welcome for that visual.

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