Of course I didn't forget the manatee. The person who asked for it did, though, until the winter reunion of my summer coworkers and kids. So I furiously started working on it to have it done for him by the end of the day, but of course, being a reunion, there were activities and community service and games and catching up to be done. And the mouth bit didn't want to work, so I got caught on that. And then the recipient left without saying anything. Long story short, I finished it a couple days later and still have it because he's forgotten about it again.
I worked it almost exactly like I did the Walrus, except incorporating the skills I learned working on Discworld to make it a much more durable critter. The flippers were worked similar to the turtle's; flat but two-ply shaped by adding or removing stitched in choice locations. The tail was worked similar to the elephants' ears, an unclosed magic circle with another layer to make it larger and more circular.
I used larger eyes and ch'd 4 or 5 and stitched those on to give him eyelids/brows for a bit more personality. The mouth wasn't doing what I wanted it to, so I stitched that down in the center and it gave him a much better expression.
