I realised that I have created a set of strict rules for myself when I’m working on the Flower Blanket. The Blankie-Police are not going to come and get me if I break them but they do make life easier, or maybe more achievable, if I follow them.

Your rules and ways of thinking are probably different to mine but I thought I’d share!

This post probably follows logically on from the  Blankie Dilemas post that I wrote when making my Picnic Blanket so here goes…

First Rule: Minimise ends

On the first purl row, I use the fairisle weaving technique to weave in the tail left by casting on behind the stitches…the less ends to sew in the better.

When doing the striped squares, I carry the “not in use” colour up the side of the work, weaving it behind the last stitch of each knit row.

Second rule: Know what way is up

When I cast off, I always leave a long tail to be used to sew the square, using mattress stitch, to the next square up in the strip. This saves end weaving and makes it easy to identify the top and bottom of a block.  The striped squares are particularly easy to get upside down.(…ask me how I know?) The Flowers have one petal at the bottom and two at the top too.  You wouldn’t believe it but it screams if  even the plain squares  are the wrong way up!

Third rule: Finish one  square before starting another

This might sound silly! I have to be strict with myself and sew all the ends in and do any Swiss embroidery on any one square before starting a new one (especially the intarsia flowers). If I was faced with a pile of intarsia squares needing ends darning in, I’d never do it!

Fourth rule: Work on the squares for one vertical strip at a time

Not too strict on this one, but never the less …  It stops me going off and doing all my favorite squares first then not finishing because I’ve got the yucky ones left to do! The advantage of this approach is that you get a little “Achievement Boost” each time you finish an entire strip.

Fifth rule: Sew up as you go along

If you’ve followed rule four, You’ll have a regular strip-full of squares to sew together – again, it would seem a huge job to do the entire blanket all at once but seeing one strip come together, then sew two strips together??? I need that feeling of “progress” 😀

The Blankie-Police may not enforce these rules but I suspect they have sent in an undercover agent, equipped with laser eyes, to watch out for misdemeanours .

Scanning the area for signs of blanket squares……..