Tessellating Fish Blanket Finished

It's been a long time since I last posted, and the only thing in my defense is that tax season started out hot and heavy.  The last week of the year was all classes about the final versions of new laws and the changes in our computer systems.  Even though I keep being told our numbers are down, you couldn't tell it by me.  I've had days of getting to work at 7:30 in the morning and getting home at 9 that night.  Add in the time before and after for caring for the animals and I was falling asleep in my dinner.  And then there is the getting the house ready for sound proofing. I'll write about that later.
At last, and just in time for Christmas, I finished the grandson's afghan..  It was greeted with wonder by his father, who though he had seen me working on it, still couldn't believe things like this could be made by hand.
One year old Anthony, of course, took it in stride, fingered it a moment, commented ooooh, then went on to his next gift.  But he did sleep with it Christmas night and nights since and uses it in the morning when watching sesame street.


  Below is the dark side.

This is the lighter side

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.

NOTE:   The only stitches in the motifs are double crochet, decrease (2 together) and increase (2 in one stitch).  Single crochet is used to edge each strip, to join and for blanket edging.  I also used a crab stitch to make rows across (see step

For your base start with a chain of 26.
1)   row 1:  Skip the first three stitches and double crochet in next st and
      evenly across.
2)   rows 2-8:   *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.
3)   rows 9-13:   work even until you have 6 rows of 10 stitches.
4)   rows 14-18:  *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.
5)   rows 19-23:  work even until you have 6 rows of 20 stitches.
6)   rows 24-30:  *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.

NOTE:  If you want differently colored fish, change colors here.  If you
want, add another row of 6 so all fish are the same size.

7)   rows 31-37:  *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.
8)   rows 38-42:  work even until you have 6 rows of 20 stitches.
9)   rows 43-47:  *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.
10) rows 48-52:  work even until you have 6 rows of 10 stitches.
11) rows 53-59: *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.
 
(12)  This makes 2 fish touching noses from tail to tail..  Work as
         many fish in a strip as you want for width or length (I worked
         this to be 4 fish length wise).

13) On alternating rows start with the mouth:  chain 8, skip 3 to begin,
      work even to make 6 stitches.
14)  work steps 7-11, then steps 2-6.   Makes 2 fish touching tails
       from mouth to mouth.   Repeat for as many fish as are in step 12.
      (If changing colors change between repeat of step 6 and 7 and insert a
       row of 6 if you did for the other strip.)
15) Single crochet around each strip.  I  used a medium blue, went down
      the side of one fish, across at tail (or mouth, as the case may be),
      down the other side of the next fish, back across, continued to the
      end, across the bottom, then back up the other way to add a bit of
      a texture.  You can just go around the normal way if you prefer.
16) Join strips in desired method.  I didn't want lacy, so I used a slip stitch
      join so that on one side, each strip is outlined in dark, and on the
      other side there is only a hint of the dark blue.
17) Edge as desired.   Because I  didn't make distinctly colored fish, I
      crocheted across the blanket where mouths or tails joined with a
      medium blue using a crab stitch before I edged the blanket.  For
      edging I used the medium blue in single crochet, then a row of dark
      blue single crochet.

Let me know if there are any errors, and I would love to see what you make with this motif.  It can be used for more than blankets.
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