This will be a wedding gift for my son. Geeky enough for him! I played with the colors for a while and this layout is the one that pleases me. I hope he likes it!

Link to an online copy of Escher’s original tessellation.

Oh boy, what did I get myself into??
To have the blanket done on time for the wedding, I need to make 5 animals per week. Feasible but tight! I realize that this is the only knitting that I will do for the rest of 2024. At least all the animals are cute…

May 26: it seems I’m using less yarn than anticipated. Perhaps my gauge is a bit tighter than the designer? My first 5 tortoises used 36g of yarn. About 20% less. Perhaps the yarn structure is different? Same yardage for the length, same needle size. Or I’m not leaving enough length for the tails? If I end up with a 20% smaller blanket, so be it.

June 1st: the first 9 orange tortoises are done. I’ve been debating whether to sew as I knit, or keep the sewing for last. I find that the knitting is faster if I concentrate on a single shape, so I’ll sew everything at the end.

June 14th: all the orange tortoises are done. I only used about half of the orange yarn. I know some is needed for the i-cord border but still, it’s a lot of leftover. I’m a bit tired of tortoises for now, I’ll move on to some fishes for a while. Perhaps aim for 18 too.

Aug. 10: knitting half done! I have half of each animal. I’ll start sewing for a while, see how long that takes, trying to sew everything I have. That will give me a better idea of how much time I’ll need at the end.

Aug. 24: I’ve been sewing all this time and have reached a point where placing the remaining orange tortoises is getting hard. It’s mostly ducks that are missing, the way they connect to 4 other animals at once. I have 5 unattached tortoises, 3 fishes and 1 duck, so 45 animals are attached out of the 108. Not bad, but confirms that the deadline is tight. I’m going back to knitting but will keep sewing as I go along, attaching everything I can.

Oct. 26: still working on this. The bottom 2 layers are done and sewn. Parts of the upper 2 are about halfway there. About 1/4 of the knitting left.

Dec. 15: The deadline is getting too close for comfort. I don’t think I’ll make it. I had 3 weeks of vacation time in early November but did not get to knit as much as I hoped I would. The knitting was completed today, and I had kept the last 3 animals to sew in place for last. Right now, only the last Fish is left to sew. With a deadline on the 21st I don’t see how I’ll get there unlike I skip work, which I won’t. The steeked edges will be stabilized but I’m pretty sure the i-cord won’t be finished. I’ll still give it on the day, and if there are needles still attached to it, so be it! I can work on it during the party :-)
Oh, and 2 tortoises were swapped along the way and are not where they should be, slightly disrupting the color scheme. I did not have the heart to un-sew the first badly placed one when I realized the mistake, I doubt anyone will notice.

Dec. 18th: first steek completed. As always, stressful. And I’m really not convinced that the steaming changed anything. Also, I found it hard to place my scrap yarn in a straight line for the second steek. I hope the line won’t been to wriggly.

Dec. 19th: finished sewing everything, second steek will have to wait for tomorrow.

Dec. 21st: second steek done, crochet chain done, 1/4 of the i-cord edging finished, but… the wedding is today! The blanket was wrapped with the needles, presented to the groom, and came back home with me so I could finish it.

Dec. 25th: done!!! It’s finally blocking, at long last. It ended up being about 48 in x 55 in. I’m hoping to give it for real on the 27th.

Yarn left: red: 348m, orange: 222m, blue: 288m, grey: 378m