#crypt-a-long

WEEK 87: LAKE ILIAMNA MONSTER

The world may be falling apart but I've come this far and I'm finishing the Crypt-A-Long if it kills me! Two of the best things on the internet are the annual Geek-A-Long blanket from the folks of Lattes and Llamas, and the wonderful variety of cryptids, folktales, and close encounters you can read about. I have therefore combined the two into a two-year marathon knitting project, featuring charts that can be slotted in to the original Geek-A-Long patterns.

Lake Iliamna is in Alaska, and is supposed to be home to a creature the Tlingit call Jigiknak and the white folks sometimes call "Illie". People claim it rams their boats and chews up propellers. Descriptions vary, as usual for lake monsters, but since i didn't want to do too many sea serpents and plesiosaurs, I chose the 'gigantic sturgeon' incarnation of the beast. As the photo above shows, sturgeon can get pretty damn big, almost sea monsters in their own right.

Trying my hand at the Crypt-a-long by @ironychan

WEEK 91: BUNYIP

Hello! You have reached the Crypt-A-Long. Once upon a time it was supposed to have been a one-year project, but there are so many wonderful cryptids, aliens, and funky folktales out there, I had to continue. My inspiration was the annual Geek-A-Long by Lattes and Llamas, and the instructions and yarn available on their website should work equally well for my weekly charts. You can mix and match Geek and Cryptid squares, or knit yourself a whole Crypt-A-Long!

The Bunyip is a beast that supposedly lurks in the waterways of Australia. Descriptions vary, from huge starfish to hippo-like tusked thing, depending on which part of the continent you're in. Biologists and folklorists speculate that it may be a purely mythical creature, or perhaps an extinct one... but honestly, if it does exist, it probably wouldn't even be the weirdest thing in Australia. My square is loosely based on a supposed bunyip skull now on display in the Macleay Museum in Sydney. It is actually the skull of a deformed foal.

WEEK 96 - CHUPACABRA CLASSIC

Once again, it seems you have found your way to the Crypt-A-Long, a knitted tribute to the weird, wonderful, not-quite-real creatures of planet earth. It is modeled on the annual Geek-A-Long project from Lattes and Llamas. Each week I post a chart with an image of a cryptid, alien, or folkloric beastie, and you should be able to slot those in to the Geek-A-Long pattern to make a Crypt-A-Long of your own!

Like Coca-Cola, the chupacabra comes in both New and Classic formulas (am I really that old? Yes, I am). The mainland one is a hairless, doglike creature, but the first chupacabra reports came from Puerto Rico. People there spoke of a creature like a cross between a gargoyle and a gray alien, sometimes with wings. Although different in appearance, this creature has the same Horrifying vampiric habits as its canine counterpart.

WEEK 71: THE WUHAN TOAD

It's that time of week again! Yep, sure enough, it's another beautiful cryptid for you. All part of the Crypt-A-Long, a blanket inspired by the yearly Geek-A-Long from Lattes and Llamas. Where their blanket is devoted to movies, video games, and TV shows, mine celebrates aliens, cryotids, and weird beasties from folklore. I highly recommend the Lattes and Llamas website, where they have instructions and patterns that my charts are designed to slot into. They even have their own hand-dyed Geek-A-Long yarn, which should work equally well for knitting cryptids!

Heres another lake monster for y'all. Bao Fung Lake is in the absolute middle of nowhere, deep in Hubei Province. Since at least the sixties, local fishermen have claimed it is home to a population of truly unique cryptids - giant, albino, man-eating toads! Supposedly a group of grad students from Peking University went looking for it in 1987 and were all devoured... thus there are not even any fuzzy pictures of this cryptid. The thicc boi above is actually a jin chan, a good luck charm to encourage wealth, and nothing to do with the monster. He's just the cutest Chinese toad I could find.

WEEK 94: SCHOMBURGK'S DEER

Greetings, knitters-and/or-cryptozoologists of tumblr! You are looking once again at the Crypt-A-Long, a tribute to mysterious beasties of all stripes and spots. This modular knitted blanket is based on the Geek-A-Long by Lattes and Llamas, and is designed to use the same patterns - just slot my charts in instead of theirs! Click the website link to visit the creators of the original, and maybe buy some of their gorgeous hand-dyed yarn.

A co-worker of mine requested a cryptid from her family's home of Thailand, so here we have Schomburgk's Deer. This species is thought to have died out in the 1930s, after massive deforestation robbed it of its habitat. However, like the Thylacine in Tasmania, sightings continue and people have found sets of antlers that appear to be only recently shed. Fingers crossed.

WEEK 88: EMELA NTOUKA

Another Sunday, another cryptid. I love knitting, and I also love cryptozoology, so back in 1 BC (Before Covid) I combined them into the Crypt-A-Long. The idea is that every week I chart and knit up a square that fits into the patterns for the lovely Geek-A-Long blanket from Lattes and Llamas, but instead of geek stuff I feature the wonderful cryptids, aliens, and fun folkloric creatures of the world.

Everybody has heard of the Mokele-Mbembe but not so many are aware of its horned cousin, the Emela Ntouka. Found in the same general Congo Basin area as Mokele-Mbembe, this beast is said to be the size of an elephant, hairless, and semi-aquatic, with a long horn on its nose. It is sometimes depicted as a Triceratops sort of beastie, but has also been interpreted as an unknown species of rhino. I attempted to split the difference.

WEEK 89: ROPEN

Thank you for calling the Crypt-A-Long! You have reached my tribute to both the wonderful cryptids and mythical beasts of the world, and the annual Geek-A-Long blanket by the knitters at Lattes and Llamas. Each week for over a year now I've made a chart that ought to fit into the Geek-A-Long pattern, and I'm getting close to my ultimate goal of one hundred squares!

The Ropen is our second pterodactyl cryptid (third if you count the Van Meter Visitor). It's a giant pteranodon-like flying beast thought to live in New Guinea, where it digs up and devours human corpses! Like other 'dinosaur' cryptids it is sadly popular with weird creationist types. Unlike them, and my favourite thing about it, the Ropen is said to glow in the dark!