Tried darker brown for skin and lighter brown for ridges. Moved each side of the beard one block closer to the middle and used darker yarn for flesh. Made the color for ridges stand out more than I want. With these browns--Cafe Latte, Mushroom, and Coffee--it’s either two too close in color or two too different. I like the beard better the second way with the sides moved in.

Watched beginner video for corner to corner graphghans by Mikey of the Crochet Crowd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZk8hk6w1xc.

Used my yarn winder to make flat bottom cakes of yarn in place of bobbins to use in this project. I am happy that the designer also did written instructions!

Added a row of sc around the outside edge.

I am using Sarah Zimmerman, Repeat Crafter Me, Christmas character blanket panel edgings of 1 row sc and 1 row dc as seen here: http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2015/09/crochet-christmas-...

Joining panels with the mattress stitch. A very clear explanation of how to do the mattress stitch by Tamara Kelly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzl7IpgTtXQ