Knotty Time!

My Dad told me this was something that old ladies do...I say "whatever" because I think he's jealous that I'm making something cute for my husband and my Mom really didn't do stuff like that for him. Jealousy does not suit you, Sir! Humpppfff!!

Anyway, when I was up at SuzAnne's house, I noticed she had this really cool blanket that was long enough to cover up two people on a couch. After checking it out, she told me it's a "no sew" blanket, so all you do is cut slivers out of fabric and tie them together. SO simple! Once I made my way back down to my Aunts house, we ventured over to a fabric store where I picked up various prints of fleece to make some blankets for Eric, John and myself. 

I ended up getting a a football and soccer print for Eric since he's a major fan of both sports. Honestly, I tried to find a Georgia Bulldogs print..but I think since we were pretty close to Oregon, they had a lot of Oregon Ducks prints as well as Seattle Seahawks stuff. Those wouldn't have gone over very well with him, so I went ahead with the football / soccer theme since he can flip it to whatever side he wants to use that day.

 When it came to finding a print for John, I figured the boyish theme of skater stuff would work. By getting a gamer pattern, I thought that'd be cruel considering he's pretty much banned from the Xbox since his grades suck and he needs to earn the right to use it. So, skate boarding it is!

 Depending on how big you wanna make your blanket, you can shoot for a yard and a half (it'll cover just you) to anywhere like two and a half or three yards. Take into consideration the length of the tassels you'll be cutting, so that will make your blanket smaller after you do all the edges. I ended up going for two and a half yards for Erics as well as mine, and a little under a yard for Johns. Oh, and you HAVE to use scissors that are specifically made for cutting fabric and that they are NOT dull! Otherwise, you're in for one hell of a fight with the fleece while cutting.

 First step, make sure you lay out both piece your fabric, line 'em up and make sure they're flat. And yes, I was ghetto and did all this on my bed since there wasn't really anywhere else in the house I could do it without getting interrupted / teased / harassed. Piper decided to help me but when I asked her to move her tail, she looked a little offended.

Once you have the pieces lined up, you'll need to trim the excess fabric off (the long length of the fabric) because it'll either be kinda scratchy or have some sort of printing info on it like this one:

The next step is to cut about a 4 inch square of the corner of each end. Honestly, since you can stretch some of the fabric on the long length side, but not on the short side, I end up cutting cutting 5 inches deep on the short side and 3 inches deep on the long side. Hopefully my picture will be more helpful than my actual explanation:

Next, you'll wanna start cutting your strips. I usually start with the long side, each strip is an inch wide and about three inches deep. I'll cut about twenty strips out at a time, then go back and start tying them together, then pick up where I left off for another twenty strips. 

Here's a tip for you: When you're trying your strips on the long length, pull the strip a little bit since it has some "give" to it. That's why I only cut three inches verses the five that I do on the end pieces (short side of the blanket). By doing this, it'll help with lessening the "bunching" that can occur when you make your knots too tight. 

Depending on how motivated you are, you can hammer one of these blankets out in about forty five minutes. Over the course of the last week, I've made one for Eric, John, myself as well as two puppy blankets for Piper to use as well as my Dads dogs.

Here's mine:

Eric's:

Puppy blankets:

Now, despite me going through all the motions and making some blankets for Piper, she keeps insisting on using everybody elses blankets except her own!

So, there ya have it! The "no sew" blankets are really REALLY easy to make and they are VERY comfy, especially since it's officially fall and you can snuggle up in 'em :)