Under the Sea

The ocean rocks. It's just incredible. The wonder and awe that the ocean inspires in me comes close to the awe I feel when faced with the universe. The immensity of the ocean calms and humbles me. I care very much about the health of the ocean and its vast numbers of marvelous creatures and you should too. This post is going to be written in honor of those delightful, spooky, diverse deeps.

First up on the ocean pattern agenda is this darling little lobster. What a great scrap project! It worked up quickly with great results. Maybe he'll be first lobster in the nativity play this year.
 

                           

I am very pleased to report that the happy little guy now lives on my husband's desk at work.

Next up is this fabulous octopus pattern. There are so many octopus patterns out there because octopi are very trendy at the moment. I have always loved octopuses (both plurals are acceptable!) for their intelligence, curiosity, and general impressiveness. To be honest I'm not really a fan of the many octopus patterns that are overly comical or what I like to call 'squidgy', like if you were to squeeze them they would squeak. When I found this pattern I was thrilled that it was both straightforward and realistic. Maybe I love it a little too much...I made five of them and I'm likely to make more! It translates so well between multiple yarn types and sizes. In case you're wondering, and I know you are, their names in order of appearance are Mondo, Dawn, Dusk, Ingrid, and Henry.

Another amazing ocean-themed crochet project is hyperbolic crochet. Grounded in math and science, this form of art is unique to the structure of crochet as opposed to knitting. I think it would be a perfect learning opportunity for kids because it demonstrates the order and structure present in nature in a very tactile way. I haven't yet worked up my own hyperbolic crochet. When I do I hope to donate it to the Crochet Coral Reef. If you haven't yet checked out this project, I highly encourage you to do so! What a wonderful way to use crochet to inspire and educate others.

I see many more ocean related crochet projects in my future. Wouldn't it be cool to crochet a big wave and hang it on the wall with various creatures all over it? If you have some favorite nautical or oceanic crochet patterns, drop in on the comments! We'd love to hear about them.