Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of knitters across the world warming up their needles and taking inventory on their stashes, because it’s time to announce the theme for the 2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater!!! This one has been years in the making, and I feel safe telling you that it’s my most ambitious design project to date. Charting and grading took nearly three months to complete, and the design itself is something Jac and I have been kicking around the mental abandoned lot that is our creative process for a couple of years. I’m thrilled to tell you that the finished sweater is the most amazing thing I have ever created.

True Story: We almost didn’t release it this year, because we are genuinely concerned that I will never top it. We considered sitting on it until we are ready to retire the GAL (and that year is not this year), but decided that even if this is me peaking, we can live with that. It’s been a brutal year for everyone and I think we all need this. Also, I am not capable of keeping it a secret any longer.

With no further ado, I am honored to share with you the theme of the 2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater:

BOARD GAMES

The On Board Sweater is a glorious celebration of classic and contemporary board games. It is designed to be worked in double knitting, and we just wrapped filming on a heaping pile of freshly updated double knitting tutorials. Even if you’ve never done double knitting before, make this the year you start. Top to bottom, this sweater is absolutely dripping with details inspired by all of my (and I suspect your) favorite games. It is REVERSIBLE, and though it will ask you to stretch your double knitting skills a bit, we’ll be with you the whole way with tutorials and support. Even if you’ve never knit a GAL blanket square, or made a sweater, this project is still for you.

So… who would like a spoiler? I’ve blocked out everything save for a small snippet on the back of the sweater. Here is just a little sneak peek of what’s in store this year:

We’ve got new content scheduled for every week between now and December, so make sure to mark you calendars. As with all GALs since the beginning of Geek-A-Long history, we post fresh content on Sundays. Dust off your fancy hats and join us at the Church of the Perpetual Stitchers each week. Next week we’ll be right here with a 2021 Geek-A-Long FAQ, including the project sheet with all the details you need to plan your yarn, knit your swatches, and be ready to go when clues start dropping on June 20th.

Jac said I could post one spoiler, but I’m going to go rogue and give you a second! This one is more of a riddle though:

The official title of the sweater is “On Board” which I think is pretty clever. But behind the scenes we’ve been calling it the “Yalp Games” sweater. That’s a joke that will pay off in clue 16. Can you decode it before then?

~Megan-Anne

This is the one and only time it’s fun to have a company “on-board” you.

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.