Splish, Splash… Snow Angels?

Splish, splash! What you see here is a prairie girl dreaming of ocean animals in the middle of a long, white winter.

I tried taking some photos of Bubbles the Sea Turtle out in my snowy yard (because it was the largest space I could find). My eldest daughter, Alice, took some photos of me and my youngest daughter, Melody. 

The photo doesn’t show the blanket that well but it was sure a fun time for us girls!

My son, Remington, was probably somewhere nearby.

A Turtle and the Ocean

I thought of coral and foamy waves when I was drawing the decorative bits at the top and bottom of this blanket. 

Bubbles got his name from my eldest daughter who didn’t like my suggestion of Sandy.

The dark lines are the Main Color (MC) in the patterns. I’ve marked where you can change colors (at each third of the blanket) if you want to mimic my blue gradient. 

This color-change suggestion is not a firm rule! Feel free to make it your own (take a peek at that rainbow version by Geraldine Hobbs)!

Judy crocheted this beautiful purple version of “Bubbles the Sea Turtle” using the overlay mosaic crochet technique.

My Other Sea Turtle Designs

My little boy LOVES ocean creatures and I did create a smaller sea turtle pattern for him a few months ago (see Baby Sea Turtle) but he just wasn’t wowed enough.

And I did interrupt my blanket process to come up with some sea turtle amigurumi which was a success in the kid’s eyes! You can make a scary looking fluffy turtle too! I wrote out my process/pattern here.

Bubbles the Sea Turtle is another attempt at wowing my little ones. And when I teasingly asked the kids who was going to sleep with it they all shrugged and said “aren’t you going to sell it?”

Hmm… Object permanence may be a problem with all the moving around lately.

My first attempt at wowing my son with a sea turtle design.

Ashlee’s Bubbles the Sea Turtle Project

You can see my entire progression of photos on my Ravelry project page.

I used “Red Heart With Love” yarn for my blanket; each skein has 370 yards of 4-medium weight yarn.

Main Color: Peacock x 6 skeins

Accent Color / Contrasting Color (or you can just use one color that contrasts well with your main color): Bottom – Santorini x 2 skein; Middle – Wintergreen x 2 skeins; Top – Minty x 2 skeins

It was exciting for me to actually buy new yarn for a specific project in mind! Typically, I use yarn that’s been in someone’s stash for 50 years or I buy yarn when it’s on clearance.

Taking progress photos can get difficult in this small home with lots of children. Just when I think I’m alone, there’s a cat in the way.

Interlocking or Mosaic

I made the interlocking crochet version, but of course this pattern comes with overlay mosaic crochet instructions as well. (And, as of November 2023, this design comes with a second mosaic crochet option! The adjusted mosaic crochet option has solid areas instead of showing the interlocking crochet dots).

And both techniques have appropriate charts; yes, the mosaic charts have X’s.

If you use the mosaic technique you’ll probably want to cover the sides with an envelope border (to hide the fringe that gets created from cutting at the end of each row). I always include my photo tutorial of a double crochet envelope border in each pattern but you can use the same concept for a single crochet envelope as well.

Also, the back of overlay mosaic projects is striped with a faint illusion from the front. The back of an interlocking/ locked filet mesh project is an almost- inverse of the front. Each stitch is opposite so it is not exactly like the front (horizontal lines become vertical, for example).

Interlocking Crochet

• Chart is 217 x 285
• Finished measurements approximately 54” x 71” / 138cm x 181cm
• 4.5 mm hook (US7)
• Worsted weight yarn (4400 – 4500 yards total)
     o Main color (MC) – 2200 yards plus 100 for optional border
     o Accent color (AC) – 2200 yards total
• Gauge: 16 DC x 8 rows = 4

Overlay Mosaic Crochet

Using original interlocking crochet chart.

• Chart is 217 x 285
• Finished measurements approximately 58” x 82” / 147cm x 207cm
• 5 mm hook (H-8)
• Worsted weight yarn (4530 – 5200 yards total)
     o Main color (MC) – 2250 yards of Dark Blue
     o Contrasting color (CC) – 2280 yards of Light Green
      o Plus, optional envelope border – 670 yards
• Gauge: 14 sc x 15 rows = 4”