FATW6 – Adventures in Mosaic Crochet – Ocean Theme

Welcome! The first stop of our Adventures in Mosaic Crochet CAL begins here. For this year, Friends Around the World (FATW6), there are three blankets in all, with the themes of the Ocean, Geometric and Garden Party. Today, the Ocean Adventure awaits you! There are many delightful things to see, from the bottom of the ocean, all the way to the very top. Come join us as we explore the ocean and make a beautiful souvenir during this adventure. All you need is a hook and yarn and you will have a “whale of a time.” Happy sailing ahead. Here are a few views of the Atlantic Ocean to get you inspired.

In oceans all over the world you will find beautiful coral. There are hundreds of different species of coral, and they come in many shapes and colors. They are considered living animals and belong to the phylum cnideria group which includes jellyfish, anemones and other marine invertebrates. Coral reefs are the structures made up of the skeletons of coral and can be as old as 5,000 and 10,000 years old.

The first strip of our Ocean-themed mosaic blanket is Coral! Keep in mind there will be 13 strips in all, and you will be building one after the other for your unique blanket. Ashlee Brotzell has designed this beautiful Coral piece, worked in Overlay Mosaic. Along with the written pattern, Ashlee has provided a chart and a YouTube video. As this will be your first strip for the blanket, you will need to start with a foundation row. You can either do this with chain stitches and then sc across, or use a foundation row. Ashlee has graciously made a video showing how to do a foundation row, and you will find it at the bottom of this post with the rest of the links.

A little bit about Ashlee Brotzell: Her grandma taught her to crochet when she was 8 years old and she has been crocheting on and off throughout. In April of 2021 one of her patterns got published in the Crochet Now! Magazine, issue 68. What a wonderful accomplishment for a designer. As an inspiration for this particular design, Ashlee says she loves “how wiggly and intricate coral can look.” She has certainly achieved that effect in this beautiful pattern. She is very talented, and on her Ravelry Account and Instagram, you can see just how talented! Check out the wall hangings too. Such beautiful work.

When asked about the area of Canada she lives in, Ashley says, “I live in Saskatoon, which is the largest city in my province (Saskatchewan) with about 280,000 people (which I know is small in comparison to a lot of cities in the world). Saskatchewan is known for its resources: coal, oil, along with fields of flax and canola and wheat. It is very flat here on the prairies.”

A little bit about this project for Ocean Theme. All of the strips are in Overlay mosaic crochet.

Each pattern is written basically as one repeat with 48 stitches. You will then have 2 edge stitches and one extra stitch at the end of the very last repeat. So, if you make your blanket with 3 repeats, your starting chain would be 148. Then since you start at the second chain from hook, your first foundation row, and strip itself will have 147 stitches throughout. You choose the number of repeats you want, but always keep in mind that it is ONLY the last repeat that gets the extra stitch. All patterns do mention that, so don’t stress. The 2 edge stitches are always worked as regular sc, going through both loops. The stitches in between are either US Dc or US sc. The Dc stitches are worked in the front loop of the stitches 2 rows down, and the sc stitches are worked in the back loop of the previous row. The extra stitch can either be a Dc or an sc, depending on the individual pattern. When all of the strips have been released, we also have a fabulous border to go with the blankets. This is an envelope border, which will hide all of the ends on the sides of the blanket. When you have made your final stitch, the only strand you have to weave in will be the closing one. You will have a completely finished blanket, no other ends to deal with!!

You may use any type of yarn, but make sure it is the same throughout. DK and Worsted weight work very well. In overlay mosaic If using DK, you would use a 4.0mm hook and if using Worsted, a 5.0mm hook. For inset mosaic, the tension may differ and you would need a smaller sized hook, for example, 3.5mm for DK and 4.5mm for Worsted.

You can choose to use ALL 13 strips, or some. It’s up to you to personalize your blanket. Your colors, your choices. We cannot wait to see all of your creations. We at CAL Crochet A Long are very fortunate to have a team of very AMAZING makers who have certainly put forth all of their creative efforts, lots of time, energy and yarn into this project. A HUGE thank you to them all. Here are some of their strips. For an idea on size, this strip below was worked as three repeats of the pattern. Silke used a light worsted weight yarn, 5.0mm hook. It measures 88 cm (34.75″) and height is 12 cm (4.75″). Yarn amount used was 34g in coral and 37g in blue.

Here are all of the links you will need. The pattern itself will be found at Ashlee Brotzell’s Blog or Ravelry page.

Foundation row for Overlay Mosaic:

BLOG link: Here

Ravelry link: Here

Ashlee’s Instagram Account – @ashleeslint

If you are a member of the CAL Crochet A Long Facebook Page, you can join the Event and will be up to date on releases. You can also ask questions there or show off your work. If you are not already a member, you can request to join below.

Facebook Group

Event at: Here

Enjoy working on your project and stay tuned for strip number 2 on Monday, July 12th. You will then get strip 3 on Thursday, July 15. So from next week on, they will be released on Mondays and Thursdays. No need to rush your work though, they will continue to be available and for FREE.

Silvana