Some Assembly Required

Hiya, internet family! We’re frantically counting down the days until Christmas. With each new hand cramp as we frantically try to finish our gift-knitting in time, we know we’re that much closer to having to write IOUs and admitting that maybe we should actually start Christmas Knitting in July like we always say we will. Then, it could be spread out over a few months instead of all at once. Yet, during all of this madness, between knitting yet another present, hand-dying yarn, shipping orders, and launching new designs, Megan-Anne and I managed to finish the 2019 Geek-A-Long blanket!

This blanket is our crowning jewel. I feel like Megan-Anne and I both leveled up this year. It killed her to send this one to Child’s Play for the annual dinner auction, so we ended up doing the hand-off in person while they were in town for PAX Unplugged.

Next weekend, Megan-Anne will share more pictures of the finished blanket when she announces our plans for 2020. Today, I want to share what I did to join the squares together. I used 1.25 skeins of Geek-A-Long Yarn in ‘Bulbasaur’ to join all 24 squares together with the crochet method I shared with you for the 2016 blanket.

You’re mission, if you chose to accept it (and if you don’t I’m not sure why you’ve read this far) is to single crochet around each square and then crochet those bad boys together using more single crochets. I’m gonna tell you how to do that, but I want you to know that you can do this in whichever order you prefer. Maybe you want to edge all of them and then assemble it. Or maybe you’d like to assemble them into strips as you go along. Do whichever makes the most sense for you.

For me, it was the most efficient to assemble my edged squares as I went along. I started with Myst on the top right and worked my way across the row, crocheting them together as I finished edging them. Then, when I finished a row, I’d crochet it to the one above it. Because of the way I did it, I avoided cutting my yarn in a few places. I’ll tell you where and how in case you want to do it how I did.

Alrighty, it’s time to start.

You can find the rest of the instructions on how to assemble it here: Game Over Geek-A-Long 2016

For the 2019 blanket, I followed my own directions and started with the most important step. Lay out the squares and take a picture. In earlier more naive years, we’d stack them in the order that they were to be assembled.

DO NOT DO THAT.

I mean, yes. You should do that. But for the love of all that is knit, do NOT only rely on that. Take a picture and share it on the internet, so that we can all marvel at its majesty… and also ensure that you’ll have a backup in case something happens to the picture like that one year when Megan-Anne knocked over the stack and the backup pic was on my cell phone, which had just bit the big one.

Trust me, when it’s one o’clock in the morning and you’re telling yourself that this will definitely be the last square you edge, but then another episode of the show you’re bingeing auto-plays and you figure, “why not,” your biggest concern should be making sure that you’re not putting in a square upside down.

Fun Fact: Every year that Megan-Anne joined the blanket together with knitting, she has put in a square either upside down or with the wrong side facing. That was usually her cue to go to bed and stop knitting so late into the night, but sometimes she’d stay up to “rage rip,” which involved a lot of swearing while she ripped back to start.

Just like I did for the 2016 and the 2017 blankets, I started edging the topmost right-hand square, which was She-Ra this year, and went along the row, joining them together as I went. Once all of the squares were joined together, I put two rounds of single crochets around the whole thing. Since I used a bold contrast color for the edging (Bulbasaur), the blanket needed a little extra oomph to give it that polished look. I used a bit of ‘Palpatine’, the black that was liberally used throughout, in order to pull the whole thing together with a crochet crab stitch edging.

CROCHET CRAB STITCH EDGING

Please note that we use USA definitions. For an American to British conversion chart and a refresher on how to sc, click here.

The Crab Stitch is crazy simple and easy with high curb appeal, but it feels heckin’ weird when you first start. Unnatural, even. I’ve added this edging to a few of my projects over the years and it always feels wrong when I first start. Ignore that feeling and keep going. You’ll get into a rhythm and it’ll be done before you know it.

The Crab Stitch is also known as Reverse Single Crochet, which is exactly what it is. You single crochet in reverse. It gives it an almost twisted cord or i-cord edging feel. Before you nope right out of here since just the idea of going backwards puts your teeth on edge, let me show you a quick photo tutorial.

STEP ONE

First, you’ll want to join your yarn as usual and crochet one single crochet. If you’d like a more subtle look, you could use the same color as the foundation and just have a texture change instead of using a contrasting color like I am.

STEP TWO

Insert the hook into the next stitch to the right, which is shown in the top two pictures. It’ll feel heckin’ weird, but after that you’ll work the single crochet like normal: yarn over (shown on bottom left) and draw up a loop. You should now have two loops on the hook. Yarn over again and draw it through both loops, leaving you with one loop on the hook (shown bottom right). This completes your first official Crab Stitch.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. But, I’ll give you one more picture collage just in case.

THE NEXT STITCH

Continue to work one Crab Stitch (Reverses SC) into each stitch until you reach the end. Insert hook into the next stitch to the right (shown top left); yarn over and draw up a loop, creating two loops on the hook (shown top right); yarn over again and draw it through both loops, leaving you with one loop on the hook (shown bottom on the bottom).

I also recommend gently pulling on the working yarn to tighten the previous stitch to help keep your tension even and smooth.

When you get to the end, follow the theme by slip stitching in reverse to that first single crochet. Cut and secure working yarn and then weave in the ends.

Congratulations, you’ve done it! This has rekindled my obsession with the Crab Stitch. I’m in love with how this blanket turned out, and I’m sad to see it go. I hope you knitters or other first time crocheters give the Crab Stitch a try.

~ Jac

I did not realize how bad my manicure had gotten until I sat down to edit these photos and put together this post. Sorry, family!

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.