Picking up as I knit, definitely. My goal is to make a standard twin-sized afghan, around four feet by six feet. (Alternately, a four feet by three feet lap blanket if I get bored.) If I make the big size, that's something like 800 squares. I'm pretty sure that if I made them all separately, I'd end up with a box of 800 squares that would never take that last step and become a blanket.