Mermaid's Tail

There were six of us in what my mom called "the crew".  We all became friends by the seventh grade, tho some of us knew each other before that.  Five of us shared most of our classes, all of us ate lunch together, and we all loved to read.  Most of us loved to write as well.  We'd pass notebooks among ourselves, writing different stories, developing characters, giggling over dialog, and fumbling with plot twists.

I went to a different high school than they did, but we all remained friends on into our college years.  Eventually, we all drifted this way and that, with maybe these two people keeping in touch and these other two would periodically give each other a call, and then that person would connect with this person, and so forth.  Over the years, none of the six of us kept in touch with all the others, but there were always ways that all of six of us were in touch with someone within the group.

Four of us were able to spend some time together recently.  One person drove in from Wisconsin for two days, another person {from Ohio} took time during her family vacation to hang out with us, and the third person bused in from Virginia for four days.  They stayed with me here in Mississippi.  How far we've come since rural Pennsylvania some thirty plus years ago!

We visited, reread the stories that we'd shared, browsed thru pictures, yearbooks, and a scrapbook.  I took them on a driving tour of the area, stopping at Jilly Bean's to paint pottery.  Waverly Mansion provided three of us with a pleasantly interesting afternoon, after we had lunched at Flavors, the local Indian restaurant.  Two of us drove down to Lake Tiak O'Khata for their southern buffet, and a quick tour of the grounds before I had to be back in town for an appoint.  We all enjoyed two local coffee shops over the weekend and two of them were able to cruise thru our Farmer's Market before the pig roast here at our place.  It was a good time, catching up with each other and yet it felt like there wasn't quite enough time to do all there was to do, and say all there was to say, and ask all there was to ask.  But we've all made the connections and updated our contact information and hope to keep in touch in the future.

So why is the post's title "Mermaid's Tail"?  Aha!  My sharp eyed friends, I can slip nothing past you, now can I?  No! I cannot.

One of us has a daughter who texted her mom several pictures of a crocheted mermaid's tail, complete with fins, used as a body sack of sorts.  Not quite a sleeping bag, but more than a mere afghan.  Her mother flashed her phone at me and said, "can you make this?" and without hesitation, I responded, "yes.  Yes, I can."

And then I promptly scribbled down her favorite colors and we continued to chat about this, that, and the other thing.  At some point over the next few days, I could have said, "hey, let's take a look at a few options and discuss some stuff."  But, no!  Apparently, that is not the way I work.

Mermaid's tails can be constructed in all sorts of manners, using all sorts of materials.  Even if you decide on a particular fabric, using yarn, knitting or crochet, or a combination thereof; there are all sorts of textures and stitches and the like to be determined.  I mean, if you going to put that sort of work into it, that sort of time and attention, then you want to be sure to do just the right thing, in the right way, don't you?  I do, I want to make this something that this young woman will enjoy using, looking at, cuddled and swaddled in.  So after a few exchanges of pictures and explanations and questions and answers, I now have settled on a pattern and a basic idea of what is what.

The color swatches didn't transfer well, so I could not show them to you here; however, three main yarns will be incorporated into the mermaid's tail.  Turquoise, dark teal, and a variegated teal/blue/green will be accentuated with three additional shades.  Those splashes will be lime, emerald, and indigo.  I plan to take pictures as I go!

I'll be using a fan or shell stitch, of multiple double crochet stitches to create the tail itself.  The fin may be crocheted or knit, I'm not sure yet.  Generally, when I crochet, I do the entire item in crochet.  If I am knitting, I knit.  I don't usually blend the two, but the fin might be nice in a rib knit.  I have time to think on that while I do the tail.  So, Elizabeth, your mermaid's tail is coming up!


{the picture does not feature Elizabeth, nor is that the pattern I plan to use for the mermaid's tail; it is, however, similar enough to give you the basic idea of what the end result will be}