Super Mario Blanket finished

Hurrah, hurrah, the Super Mario blanket is officially finished.  Tim and I have had all the knitting done for a while, it’s hard to get motivated to sew it together.  I was regretting my decision to knit the brick strips separately, it meant more sewing.  My sister-in-law had the baby which was the blankets recipient, so now it was official, sewing had to commence.  I started sewing all the strips on when I discovered that one’s gauge is not the same side to side as it is up and down.  The strips that we had knit for the vertical divisions were too long.  The strips on the interior of the blanket, this didn’t matter, they could just hang over on the inside, but the top and bottom, it would show.  So, I ripped them out and was tired of this sewing thing, so I picked up stitches along the edge.  Then I would be sure that the strip was the right size.  Knitting a blanket in the summer is not the best idea, picking up stitches meant that the whole warm blanket was on my lap. Thank goodness it is only crib sized and we have air conditioning. 

The blanket was then all put together.  We had decided at the beginning that there was no way to make the blanket look nice on both sides, so we would add a flannel backing.  This was a great idea, it meant that we didn’t have to weave in any ends, and there are a lot.  I had never added a baking to my knitting before, I was a little freaked out about putting the knitting we worked so very hard on through the sewing machine.  I was picturing the machine chewing it up, the sewing machine needle getting caught, the knitting stretching out of shape, getting fed through the machine at the wrong speed, a multitude of things.  So, I decided to hand sew the backing on.

It was the safest option, but the most time consuming and tedious.  Then, making my life more difficult, I sewed it on in two steps.  First I whip stitched the backing on with the right sides together, then I turned it right side out and did a running stitch along the edge.  To me, this touch looked like quilting, and it kept the edge of the blanket flat. 

I was worried about hand stitching not being as durable as machine sewing, I thought that the two seams would make it stronger. 

I think the blanket looks great, hopefully the recipient likes it as well.