2019 Geek-A-Long: Steven Universe

December absolutely flew by this year. I got caught up in other things, and wound up burning the midnight oil to get the 2018 Geek-A-Long Blanket joined and sent off to Child’s Play for their annual dinner auction. It got there in time though, and I like to believe whoever bought it treasures it as much as I do. It’s always a little weird for me to send them off. Each blanket takes a year, and for the last several years, even the yarn used was dyed by me. I practically knew that blanket since it was nothing but a sheep and a twinkle in Jac’s eye. But neither of us actually own a GAL blanket.

Jac has started working on a Nightmare Mode blanket (sock weight yarn and A LOT of squares) to keep for herself and she’ll be showing off pics of it throughout the year.

Anyhow, for the last part of 2018 we were working on the 2018 blanket and the 2019 blanket at the same time, which was a strange feeling. The two blankets have a very different style and vibe. Last year’s was sort of all over the place, since the squares were chosen by popular vote. Fun as that was, this year we wanted to go somewhat to the other extreme and have a very cohesive blanket. Since 2017, Jac has designed the squares and I’ve done the knitting. This works well for us, and frees up my time to work on other designs. But it also means that I get to be surprised by the designs just like you guys. This year, this blanket, is without a doubt our best work. Some of it is that our theme for 2019, cartoons, lends itself really well to squares. But honestly, I was blown away by her designs. She gave them to me all at once, and each one was more delightful than the one before. I think you guys are gonna LOVE this year’s squares.

Which brings me to our first square of 2019: Steven Universe!

Steven Universe, especially when you start watching at the first episode of season one, which is absolutely where you should start, can come off as sort of a silly kid’s cartoon. Don’t let that fool you. This shit is DEEP, and frankly, really dark. Steven is the progeny of a powerful Crystal Gem and a human man. Rose Quartz, Steven’s mother, gave up her life to give birth to him, and he was left in the vastly unprepared hands of his father, Greg (DeMayo) Universe. Shortly after Steven’s birth the Crystal Gems living on Earth took custody of Steven, and though Greg remained in his life, he wasn’t the primary caregiver. At the start of the series, Greg is the owner/operator of “It’s a Wash Carwash”, and lives out of his van. Steven is being raised by powerful Gem-based aliens who have almost no concept of earth culture or Steven’s needs as a half-human. At a very young age, he learned to functionally raise and care for himself.

As the series progresses, Steven learns more about his mother, the other Crystal Gems, and the colonialist empire that led to the Gem’s exile on earth. He is forced to confront themes of racism, domestic violence, gender and sexuality discrimination, consent, and privilege. Also, be ready to cry. If this show can’t make you cry, then you are a monster. I could go on for days about Steven. Sometimes I think of starting a blog that is just devoted to breaking down each episode. This is the internet though and one can assume this already exists anyways.

Steven Universe was created by Rebecca Sugar, the first female show-runner at Cartoon Network. She shatters gems and glass ceilings. The most recent episodes are intense. For those of you that are caught up, I want to talk about the Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond situation. I’m not even avoiding it from a spoiler perspective. When something has been out for several months, it’s fair spoiler game. The thing is, I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it. This is the type of show that you find yourself so deeply invested in, the in-show tragedies feel personal. Rose Quartz forces the audience to reconcile the notion that any of us might do something horrible for the greater good, to save the people we love. In some ways, I’m not sure what’s worse, having to believe she killed Pink Diamond or finding out the burden that she put on Pearl.

This week we are honoring Rose Quartz, my favorite character. I even designed a shawl in her honor ages ago, the Rose Quartz Spring Shawl.

This year for the Geek-A-Long, we’ve upped the difficulty level. There are literally hundreds of two color squares to choose from for new double knitters. I’m in my sixth year of knitting this blanket and needed a challenge. So expect complex 3+ color squares this year. In fact, there are hardly any 2 color squares on the blanket this year. Jac wrote up all the sweet 2019 details and you can catch that HERE if you missed it. For this square, the third and fourth colors are worked in duplicate stitch. We released a tutorial for double sided duplicate stitch last year, and you can find that HERE. As the year goes on, we’ll post tutorials on any new techniques that the 2019 blanket calls for.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not post this at least one more time, letting you know that we have kits available for this year’s blanket. You can get the full kit, which will include all the sweet, squishy Geek-A-Long yarn you need to make the full 2019 blanket, including joins and edging. We also have a kit that is more of a sampler that includes one skein of each of the colors used this year.

Welcome to 2019 nerds! Let’s make the year amazing.

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Steven Universe 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! 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

“If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs.”-Greg Universe

If you enjoyed this post, please consider making a donation to Child’s Play Charity. Here is a direct link to our official donation page 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.