Tessellating fish

Having seen plenty of knitted fish designs, but no crochet ones I liked, I fiddled around and came up with my own version.  The top one is single crochet.  Ok, but I wanted larger motifs and something I could make an afghan of quicker and with a little less strain on the carpal tunnel.  So I tried double crochet.  Ahh, quick and easy to work up.  I fiddled with the number of rows until I liked the proportions.  Then I thought, maybe I should add some details like fins?  No, I decided, keep it simple, because Anthony's mom wants something not too fussy and not too baby, not too bright, but not dull, and not boring.  Then I needed to decide orientation.  Each row swimming the same direction?  That might work, but the design I finished on works well nose to nose, tail to tail.   You can see that if you just continued with one strip you could have a pretty cute fashion scarf.                                        

This is the color Ressa chose for her one-year old son.  I have made two motifs, nose to nose, and will keep going next with the tail, then then nose again until I have the width I (and Ressa) want. 

The yarn is Red Heart Kids, worsted weight 4     4oz/113g 232 yd/212m and the color is 2940 Beach.  I used my favorite Provo Craft hook with a number 6 tip.

The motif pattern is very simple, something I felt necessary so I wouldn't have to keep looking at the directions for every step.  Once you get the rhythm you can put the directions away.
  for your base start with a chain of 26.  Skip the first three stitches and double crochet in next strip and across.
*decreasing two in the row (one at beginning and one at end of row), double crochet across*
repeat between * and * until you have 10 stitches.
work even until you have 6 rows of 10 stitches.
*increasing two in the row (one at beginning and one at end of row), double crochet across*
repeat between * and * until you have 20 stitches.
work even until you have 6 rows of 20 stitches.
*decreasing two in the row (one at beginning and one at end of row), double crochet across*
repeat between * and * until you have 6 stitches.
*increasing two in the row (one at beginning and one at end of row), double crochet across*
repeat between * and * until you have 20 stitches.
work even until you have 6 rows of 20 stitches.
*decreasing two in the row (one at beginning and one at end of row), double crochet across*
repeat between * and * until you have 10 stitches.
work even until you have 6 rows of 10 stitches.
*increasing two in the row (one at beginning and one at end of row), double crochet across.
repeat between * and * until you have 24 stitches.

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