This now seams possible

Once I decided on my I Love Leftovers blanket layout, I needed to get it off my living room floor (where my family kindly walked around it for 5 days). I took a photo and printed it for reference, and then started picking up my squares. I made 16 stacks of 12 squares each, and I tied them up so even if they get knocked off the piano, they will stay in order. My weaving needle (which is about 5” long) came in handy, as I used it to pierce each stack and tie on a label with – yes – more leftover sock yarn:

And on the piano is right where those tidy stacks stayed for a week or so.

Finally, I pulled out stack #1 and started mattress stitching them together. Here is the very first join – you can see the seaming yarn pulled tight at the bottom and still loose (like shoelaces) at the top:

For reference, I consulted Sally Melville’s The Knit Stitch. Her “stitches to ridges in garter stitch” instructions are impeccable.

I sewed 12 squares together, and that completed row 1. I started to leave longer tails, wondering if I could use them to join this strip to the next one. I decided to test this early. So I sewed 12 more squares together (row 2) and then seamed rows 1 and 2 together. Here’s a progress shot:

My first attempts did not result in particularly perfect corners. Quilters will cringe when they see how badly this matches up:

But I got better. Here’s how the corners were looking by the twelfth join:

As with everything, practice makes perfect.

Here are the first two strips sewn together. This means I am now one-eighth done seaming these 192 squares!

This is not a portable project right now, and I need a table and good light to do it. But it’s happening!