Takeaways: I really like this pattern. I love sea turtles, and I love color, and this was a great combination. The pattern was well-written, but I found myself making adjustments.
I did all of the ocean squares first, but when I got to the shells and turtles, I realized that the colorful circles (shells) were made the same way whether for the shell squares or turtle squares, so I made all of the shells first, in varying colors. Then I laid them out to determine what color order I might want them in when I finally assembled the blanket. I drew up a crude diagram to help me keep track of my progress.
I made all of one thing at a time. Ocean squares, shells, shell squares, turtle squares, turtle heads (I used larger eyes than was called for, because it’s what I do). Then it was all about assembly. One thing I don’t recall the pattern saying was to sew down the fins of the turtles. As I worked, I noticed they had a tendency to curl up, and I knew they’d do that over time, especially after washing. So I got some green sewing thread and sewed all of them down. The shell edges are pretty and decorative, but also tended to want to curl. I didn’t try anything to make those stay flat, but I imagine the recipient won’t care as much as I do about that.
I always feel impatient with how long it takes to make a blanket, but I do like this one. Squares feel less tedious than one giant piece, mostly. If I ever make another one, I’ll probably add 2 columns? The size I made is just about right for one person to use, but I would prefer a slightly larger size even than that.
06-14-2020
I wasn’t sure I’d have enough Cobalt to do all of the ocean squares, but I did. Now I’m thinking of going larger. I think I’m going to add 2 rows to the bottom of the blanket, which will mean 5 more ocean squares. Once all squares are complete and attached, I’ll decide if I want to add a column.
08-02-2020
I finished the ocean squares right around July 19, and took a bit of a break from it. I’ve been learning some freeform stuff. Thinking about picking it up again today, but I think the progress may be slow, or I may have to stop for another time-sensitive project coming up.
05-18-2022
Picked this up again. Long story short, I now need it to be finished by September. 
07-09-2022
Water squares are done. Shell squares are done. Turtle base squares are done. Turtle shells and heads are done. I’m now at the stage of sewing the shells and heads to the turtle base squares.
The instructions are a little vague about the actual method of sewing the shells down, so I’m doing what makes the most sense to me.
The first one, I sewed down every other stitch from the shell row 4, but I didn’t like the look, so I went around a second time to get the ones I missed in the first pass. Just barely had enough yarn to do that and weave the end in.
The second one, I tried to get every stitch on the first pass, but the yarn wasn’t long enough, so I went back to the way I did the first one.
07-24-2022
I tried attaching the squares together as the pattern said, using crochet stitches. But I found that it caused my squares to pucker because the stitches were too tight. Somehow or other, my wave “squares” turned out more rectangular and all the other squares were true squares. Perhaps in the 2 years since I started this project, my stitching has loosened up… 
Instead, I whip stitched all of the squares together. They didn’t bunch or pucker, and the drape was more what I was going for. I still did only the back loops, so I think I achieved the look the pattern was going for. After assembling all the squares, I did the border except for the decorative shells on the last row - only doing 8 rows of linen/moss stitch. I felt that my recipient wouldn’t care much about that decorative edge, and since I added 2 rows at the bottom of the blanket, I didn’t want to worry about having to fudge the counts to get the shells evenly spaced - they may have worked out fine, but I didn’t care enough to find out.
Blocking: I laid some waterproof pads out on top of my bed, placed the blanket on top, used a spray bottle to wet it down, and pinned with some long quilting pins around the outside edges of the squares at the joints. I didn’t pin down the border or much on the inside, and just manipulated those areas to get them as even as possible. Blocking something like this feels like it’s mostly for the initial presentation anyway, since (hopefully) the recipient will use the blanket and it will need washing.
DecemberButterfly notebook 
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