Mermaid Tail and Shark Lapghans

Did you craft anything as a gift for Christmas? Well, I did.

I decided that for all the kiddos on the Harris side of the family, I would crochet them matching lap afghans (or lapghans). You may have already seen the popular mermaid tail and "eaten by a shark" personal afghans floating around on Pinterest and Facebook.

With sharks being all over the news this past Summer and with our family's association with The Little Mermaid having been well documented time and time again, I thought that sharks for Aidyn and Jaxon and mermaid tails for Charlotte, Emma, and Lexi would be perfect.

I used these free crochet patterns and adjusted them for sizing: Eaten by a Shark Pattern and Mermaid Tail Pattern.

Here's the whole motley crew. I know, Lexi, you have crazy cousins! ;-)

But she soon figured out what to do with it . . . 

Of course, my boys wanted to show you what it looks like to fend off a shark attack:

And also what it looks like when you lose (silly boys):

Pattern Modifications

For the smaller mermaid tails, I only completed each half tail until there were 16 stitches left. This made a smaller tail that looked more appropriately sized for a smaller mermaid tail.

For all tails (both mermaid and shark), I only completed the very last row (12 or 16) with one row of stitches. That way, the matching row on the other half tail would complete the two row pattern that all other rows had formed. If you complete two rows on both sides, then when you sew the two half tails together, you'll have four of the same sized rows together in the middle, which I thought would look odd.

For the mermaid tails, I used this decorative stitch around the top edges: *7dc in same space, skip a stitch, repeat from * 

For shark teeth, instead of the bobbles, I used this decorative stitch to form triangle "teeth" around the mouth: *hdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc, skip two stitches, repeat from *

Measurements

You'll note that both patterns walk you through the bottom portion, which includes all shaping, and then instructs you to complete the rest of the pattern "to desired length." Well, since these were for gifts, I had to sort of figure a way to ask for measurements so that I would have something to work with.

For the mermaid tails, I asked for the girls' measurements (standing) from floor to waist height and then I added to that measurement the length of their feet. This will give them room to move their feet around at the bottom of the tail, and for the little girls, will give them some "growing room." I crocheted to this length in each instance and then added the final decorative stitch in the contrasting color.

For the sharks, I measured the boys from underneath their arms (standing) to the floor and then added to that measurement the length of their feet. I crocheted to this length in each instance and then added the jaws.

Yarn Choice & Colors

For the mermaid tails, I used:

• Red Heart Super Saver Turqua (body)
• Red Heart Super Saver Grape Fizz (tail and ruffle trim)

For the sharks, I used:

• Caron One Pound Soft Grey Mix (body, fin, tail)
• Caron One Pound Black (eye)
• Caron One Pound Scarlet (blood)
• Loops and Threads Impeccable White (eye/teeth)

(Note: You certainly don't need one pound of the black, red, or white color for the shark pattern. These were just leftover from another project, so I put them to good use for these projects to accomplish some stash busting!)

All in all, I would certainly recommend these patterns, as they are very beginner friendly. They do take some time with the finishing (for the sharks more so than the mermaids), but the majority of the work is a simple Granny Stitch. Easy peasy!

Add these patterns to your Ravelry queue:

Eaten by a Shark

Mermaid Tail*

Note: Designer is the same for both the Eaten by a Shark and Mermaid Tail lapghans. Eaten by a Shark is featured on Ravelry, but that link will also take you to the free Mermaid Tail pattern on her website.

Enjoy!

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