Having a whale-y good time

I have wanted to knit a blanket with whales on for quite a long time now, possibly since my son had a swimsuit with a rather cute whale on a couple of years ago. So when Knit Now had a call for submissions with a nautical theme a few months ago, I grabbed my colouring pencils and sketched this blanket.
 

I then failed to submit it as I realised that knitting a blanket to a tight deadline with two pre-school children, one of whom does not sleep all night was probably not a good idea, especially as I wouldn't be able to immediately gift it to a friend, so would probably have to knit two blankets within the same time frame. And then a close friend announced that she was expecting a boy, so I asked her whether she would prefer a whale or a rocket blanket. Handily she went for whales.

So a couple of weeks ago I popped into Hobbycraft to pick up a couple of balls of navy to get the blanket started (I need an easy on the go project, and blanket squares are perfect). I went for Hayfield Bonus DK, partly because I know what gauge I knit it to, and partly because I already have several of the colours in my stash. I ordered the other colours (the ones Hobbycraft don't stock) from Woll Warehouse.

And here's the first square. Hopefully I should get the whales charted soon.

Isn't the sheep stitch protector cute? Pity both my children like to take him for little walks...