2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater: Clue 22

Welcome to week 22 Geek-A-Long Nation! We are down the final 3 weeks of this outrageous undertaking and with only 2 clues left after today, it’s time to get excited about wearing your masterpiece.

This week you will continue in the same manner as last week, continuing your yoke decreases and completing the Ouija Board. Next week we’ll have one last clue reveal that’s going to be repeated until your yoke reaches your desired length. A few weeks ago I told you how many rows were left for your size. Next week will make good on that row number, but as mentioned, the final section of the yoke is customizable. You can stop working it whenever your yoke is the length you want it to be, or you can work it for more rows than shown for your size. It’s a 10 row repeat and you’ll just go until the fit is where you want it. It will also incorporate double knit intarsia, which is not nearly as stressful as it sounds. If you can double knit, you can incorporate intarsia, though you could opt to skip that and work it without intarsia too. I think you should try it though.

As mentioned last week, this is the time to start making some decisions on how you want to finish your sweater. Clue 24 will cover the collar and bind off, and the zipper join. You can skip the zipper and wear your On Board open, or you can add a button band, but the zipper really tops it all off nicely. If you want to give that a go, it’s worth noting that I am not a great sewer, and I sewed mine on by hand and it looks great. Trust me, if I can do it, we are talking about beginner level seamstressing (seamspersoning?). If you’re going to come on that journey with me, the first step is to aquire a zipper. I used the Coats separating black and brass 16″ zipper.* You could easily go up to a longer zipper, but you won’t want to use a shorter one. The advantage of the shorter zipper is that it stops a few inches above the hem and when zipped will fit a wider range of sizes than if the zipper went all the way to the bottom of the checkerboard. Since my sweater is going to be auctioned off to a stranger at the Child’s Play Dinner Auction I wanted it to be as versatile as possible.

*I included a link to Amazon for the zipper, but I hope you will shop locally if possible.

To execute the zipper join I’ll be showing you, you’ll need the zipper of your choice (It MUST be a separating zipper, but the rest is up to you), sewing thread that matches your CC color (for me that is black), appropriate sewing needles…a tapestry needle won’t do the job here, you need to be able to sew through the zipper tape, pins, and some of your MC yarn for the decorative finish. So start gathering those up, and I’ll go over the full process on the post for week 24.

To help you decide on your zipper length, here is a special spoiler from our final photoshoot to show you what the sweater looks like with a 16″ zipper.

Here, you can see that I could have easily gone with an 18″ or 20″ zipper and brought it from the bottom of the checker board to the center point of the Ouija Board, but this way it will fit the most butts/chests while zipped.

Released so far:

• 2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater: On Board Project Sheet.
• 2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater FAQ
• Practice Swatch 1: Electric Company
• Practice Swatch 2: Railroad
• Clue 1
• Clue 2
• Clue 3
• Clue 4
• Clue 5
• Clue 6
• Clue 7
• Clue 8
• Clue 9
• Clue 10
• Clue 11
• Clue 12
• Clue 13
• Clue 14
• Clue 15
• Clue 16
• Clue 17
• Clue 18
• Clue 19
• Clue 20
• Clue 21

View On Board: Clue 22 by clicking this link or download it by clicking the button below. When you download the pattern from our website instead of through Ravelry, you will NOT receive automatic updates. You will have to come here and download the next clue every time. Please download it via Raverly if you are able, so you have immediate access to the clues as they are released and any errata that may appear.

~Megan-Anne

I’m getting excited about next year’s Geek-A-Long! We aren’t going to share the details until 2022, but I think you’ll really like what we have planned.