So this is my 4th Mermaid Tail! All three of the others were requested by my granddaughters at the age of 6 or 7. This one is going to be a surprise for my grandniece, for her 6th birthday. I hope she likes it! And I hope she still likes pink!!

Except for a slight alteration of the fin on Maisy’s, all four of these have been done the exact same way, the only difference being the attachment of the fin. That’s the worst part for me! I’ve tried 4 different methods now, and none of them have been particularly satisfactory. This last way I think was probably the easiest method, but the 1st was the best looking, which I haven’t been able to duplicate. Anyway, here are my notes, and I’ll link my other projects at the end:

I started with Foundation dc rather than a chain, but once again, I needed 151 of them rather than 150 per the pattern. I don’t know why no one else has mentioned this. Maybe it’s just me, but it didn’t work out evenly for me with 150.

I worked the whole thing flat, carrying the colors up the side rather than cutting them, and seamed it up at the end with mattress stitch, leaving the top 30 rows open. Then I did one row of single crochet around the opening.

I did a total of 80 rows, including 12 rows of a gradual decrease, beginning on row 69, as follows (thanks to susansands excellent project notes for this):
Rows 1-3 (69-71): Replace shell with 2dc, ch, 2dc
Rows 4-6 (72-74): Replace shell with 3dc
Rows 7-9 (75-77): Replace shell with dc, ch, dc
Rows 10-12 (78-80): Replace shell with dc

Specific to this project:
My main color was the Neon Pink, with the ombre as colors 2 and 3. I alternated skeins of the ombre, to hopefully break up the color blocking.

I was supposed to do the foundation row and also the first row of shells in the main color, but made the mistake of using the second color for the first row of shells instead. I didn’t realize this until I got all the way to the end and didn’t end with the main color like I was supposed to. It doesn’t really matter except that it’s nice to have the last row be the same color as the fin, as it helps to disguise the attachment. I adjusted for this by doing the last 2 rows in the main color, rather than switching to the second color for the last row. Sheesh! You’d think I’d have this down after making it so many times. I guess not.

I also extended the row of single crochet around the opening to continue all the way around the top in order to give a more solid band of color at the edge, closer to the way it would have appeared had I done the first row of shells with the main color.

Started the 3rd skein of the main color for the 2nd half of the fin.

Fin:
I followed an alternate fin pattern by Annoo, which begins at approximately minute 15 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A33RmatUb6g. I began with 62 Fhdc, and worked each side down to 20 sts, working back and forth in rows, doing hdc in the back loop only, chaining 1 to turn, and leaving 3 stitches unworked every other row. Per her instructions, I fastened off the first half, but did not fasten off the second, using the working yarn to seam the two halves together with sc, through both loops, leaving the last 3 stitches unworked.

Attaching the Fin:
-Ran a long length of yarn through the fin to gather it to fit inside the opening.
-Tacked down the center of the fin to the center of the body (with the end of the yarn from the sc seam) and attached the fin to the back edge of the opening with a running stitch, working from the center out to complete one side with the seaming thread, and from the outside in on the other side with one end of the gathering thread.
-Pulled the front edge of the opening down over the bumpy edge of the fin and attached that with a running stitch and the other end of the gathering thread.
-Used one of the threads at the outside edge to run back through the whole thing again with a running stitch, and then pulled on that to gather it some more.

My previous projects:
Kaye’s Mermaid Tail Afghan
Maisy’s Mermaid Tail Afghan
Rosemary’s Mermaid Tail Afghan