I knew that resizing the 2015 Geek-A-Long squares down from a 59 stitch by 59 row square to a 45 stitch by 57 row square would be difficult, but DAMN. That was harrowing. It took me most of yesterday to get Dr. Eggman ready for you! I ended up calling game when my husband got home from work, and I blew off my own work to play D&D with my family. I feel as if Dr. Eggman would approve.

THE 2015 GEEK-A-LONG

When Megan-Anne and I originally conceptualized the Geek-A-Long, we imagined each blanket as its own entity. We had planned to make each year vastly different, so we switched things up for 2015 blanket. The theme was mad scientists, and it was a truly mad year. Of the 48 squares, we crocheted 24 of them (like Dr. Eggman pictured above) and knitted the rest. As an avid crocheter, I felt passionately about being craftually inclusive. It was important to us to give the crocheters their due, and we based the 2015 gauge on crochet instead of knitting. It made things a bit weird for the knitters. And in addition to that, we made the squares larger to give ourselves more room to design.

I’ll be honest with you. While I agreed that we should return to using the double knitting gauge in 2016 and beyond, I regret completely bending to the will of the community and maintaining the status quo established in 2014. I wish we would’ve stuck with a larger sized square moving forward instead of returning to the 45 stitch by 57 row squares from 2014. I could’ve done great things with that extra space! But we’re locked into that size now. C’est la vie.

With the exception of the dark times (2015), all of the squares are now the same size. In 2017, we began including both double knitting and crochet color charts. As I update the old designs with more information in the patterns, we’re adding crochet charts to years 2014-2016 when applicable. For the 2015 patterns, however, I have the additional task of making those designs fit our standard afghan square.

For week three of 2021, I’ve ticked all of those boxes. I resized a 2015 square (Dr. Eggman), making both a double knit and a crochet chart for it, and I added a crochet chart to a 2016 square (Sonic the Hedgehog). I don’t believe I mentioned this in Week 1 or Week 2, but I also updated the style of the color charts. They have a much cleaner look, and I added a red vertical line every 10 sts to help you keep track of where you are.

You can read the original blogs posts of Sonic the Hedgehog [week 4 of 2016] and his nemesis Dr. Eggman [week by 30 of 2015] by clicking those links. Those blog posts also contain previews of the patterns and download buttons like the ones below for you to snag them for yourself.

I should also note that I did not erase the old 2015 charts from existence. The Dr. Eggman pattern now includes the two new standard sized charts (one for double knitting and one for crochet), the old chart, and brief instructions for the old chart should you chose to make it.

I’m planning to tackle another 2015 square next weekend. However, I’m going to save myself some heartache and only do one. Of course, if there isn’t a smooth transition of power in the USA over the next few days, I’ll probably scrap that plan and take on something easier. Here’s hoping!

~ Jac

One of our early ideas, when the GAL was in its infancy, was to do a Choose-Your-Adventure style blanket. It was going to be hardcore, but after people made it clear in 2015 that they just wanted more of the same, we scrapped the idea. Now that we’re nearly 300 squares into this project and we’re doing GAL sweaters, I wonder if maybe people are ready for some strange now.

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.