Despite being truly horrendous years, 2020 and 2021 brought a lot of new and fun changes to the Geek-A-Long. Instead of adding new nerdy afghan squares to our library (no seriously, there are over 250 square patterns already available), we tried out something new. We hosted not one, but TWO Geek-A-Long Sweater MKALs: Eight Bit and On Board.

[Pictured Above: Eight Bit by Megan-Anne, which raised $2,990 for Child’s Play Charity during their Annual silent auction, modeled by Jac.]

As always with the Geek-A-Long, those MKAL were and still are free. You can still knit your own Eight Bit or On Board sweaters. Megan-Anne had a blast stretching her creative legs with those patterns, especially designing the fully reversible double-knit cardi modeled by my husband below. If you ask me, it should be a piece of art in a museum somewhere, but I digress. This year is going to hold another exciting adventure for the Geek-A-Long community, but it won’t be another sweater or a blanket.

[Pictured Above: On Board by Megan-Anne, which raised $1,300 for Child’s Play Charity during their Annual silent auction, modeled by Jac’s husband.]

SOCKS, SOCKS, AND MORE SOCKS

My love of colorwork socks in the second half of 2021 (see also the Mermaid Warrior and Fire Bolt Socks) might have already tipped off some of you to this revelation while others are probably panicking right now. They’ve never knit a sock before, let alone a colorwork sock!

Don’t fret, gentle knitter. We have a plan.

We are going to arm you with the tools you need to knit your first pair of colorwork socks. We don’t want the first time you knit a colorwork sock to be one of our GAL Socks, so we’ll be discussing everything from the anatomy of a sock, the pros and cons of various sock needles, and choosing the right fiber for your socks to reading color charts, stretchy cast on’s, techniques for carrying yarn, and working colorwork gussets. Some of these discussions or tutorials will be in our usual blog format while others will be YouTube videos. You can check out and subscribe to our YouTube Channel here. However, we’ll always be sure to mention any new video releases with you here on our website.

[Pictured Above: Eight Bit by Megan-Anne, which raised $2,990 for Child’s Play Charity during their Annual silent auction, modeled by Jac.]

THE YEAR OF THE SOCK

During the first quarter of the year, Megan-Anne and I will be get you ready to cast on your first pair of colorwork socks with a beginner tutorial series and a free, easy pattern to test out your new skills. After that we’ll kick off The Year of the Sock with our first Geek-A-Long Sock! We’ll debut the theme and details of that first sock on Sunday, March 20th, 2022 along with a more comprehensive release schedule. We’re excited for the opportunity to continue diversifying what the GAL stands for and flexing our designing muscles for charity.

Much like the traditional GAL, 8-Bit, and On Board, The Year of the Sock will feature several different fandoms centered around one theme. Here is what I am allowed to tell you now:

• The Year of the Sock will include FIVE pairs of Geek-A-Long Socks.
• On Sunday, March 20th of 2022, we will debut the theme of the first sock along with the pattern details you will need in order to cast on and Geek-A-Long with us.
• Kits for each pattern will be available for a limited time, and more information about that will debut with each socks theme and details.
• Each pattern will be divided up into 4 unique parts and will spread over as many weeks, making it easier for you to knit nerdy socks along with us this year.
• The kick-off party begins Sunday, April 3rd, when the first piece of the pattern will be released.
• In addition to being available here on our website, Geek-A-Long Socks will also be available for you to download for free on Raverly and will update every Sunday with a new piece of the pattern until its completion.

And that’s what we have going on in 2022! Check back here next Sunday to learn more about Child’s Play Charity and why devote so much of our time to raising awareness through free patterns for them.

~Jac

My husband wanted to know why we didn’t start releasing the beginner tutorial series in November or December so we could debut Sock #1 today and I told him that Julius Caesar doesn’t control my life. The REAL new year should start on the first day of Spring. I mean, come on. Where’s the drama? The aesthetics? Like, if the first day of the new year isn’t going to coincide with the seasons, then it should at least be the day after the longest day of the year.

And yes, March 20th of 2022 IS the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, so there. Boom. First day of the year. You can’t change my mind.

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.