I also do lighter first because I find that pulling lighter through holes with existing dark threads gets darker fuzz on the lighter colors, though if I were working with different floss that might be less of a problem.

(This was kind of a pain when I did the polar bears, because then it was white-on-white which I hate, which is why I gridded those even though they were little.)

You mean things like Thread Heaven for tangling? Yeah, it's great, and I'm told it's critical for metallics, though why would anyone say it was cheating . . . ?

I've taken small scissors on planes, though I do also have the thread cutters, somewhere, and should probably find them again if I'm going to be stitching around the kids more . . .