I love this pattern. Still not sure how to do the caudel fins; I’m sure the ones I did are wrong. This was another Nerd Wars Challenge and brainstorming exercise for the FTL stories.

Note: There are three caudel fins, but for some reason it only looks like two in all the photos. Must get better photos.

Nerd Wars:
Your challenge is to find a Google Doodle that you like and craft something based upon that doodle. Please include which Google Doodle you used and don’t forget to tell us how it inspired your project.

Theotherjenny
Team ‘Punks
Crochet
Google Doodle: Submarine
Just as Narcís Monturiol Estarriol was so fascinated by the idea of mechanical fish that he invented the first combustion engine-driven submarine, so steampunk culture is fascinated with the idea of mechanical fish that are, well, mechanical fish. This one has gears on its fins so they turn to catch the currents along with tiny studs to hold everything in place and act as mini solar panels to power the steam engine in the fish’s back end.

Pattern:
Ingenious construction, not enough info.
Plarn:
Use the translucent produce bags. Trim bottoms off, fold lengthwise twice, cut across folds to make strips about 1” thick.
Eyes:
With dark color: Ch 3, make 6 sc in first ch.
With plarn: Put 2 sc in ea sc (12 sc).
With body color:

1. Put 2 sc in ea sc (24 sc).
2. Sc in ea sc.(24 sc).
3. Sc2tog 12 times (12 sc).
4. Sc2tog 6 times (6sc). I sewed a copper-colored curtain ring to each eyeball to add to the mechanical look; the eyeballs don’t need the support, they do fine on their own. Then sew a crystal in each eye as a catchlight.

June 17
The tail on this fish is beautiful but I’m having a heck of a time reading the diagram, so I had to fake it.
Picture of fish without tail is fish-in-progress.

June 21
I think the tail is too large as compared to the original pattern, but I love it anyway. There’s not enough contrast between the silver body and the pale green tarn, so I’ll fix that in the next one I make. Lining everything with silver beading helped some, at least it adds a lot of glitter which seems evocative of wet fish, but it really, really needs more contrast.

I’m very happy with this one as a first trial, but I made a lot of mistakes. And I still don’t understand how to do that tail. Lani scored a lot of orange produce bags for me all at once--she has no shame--so for the next round, I’m making a copper fish with Vanna’s Glamour which is a dark, dark copper and then the pale orange plarn. This one is one of Fen’s; the copper fish will be the one that Mel sees when she meets Whosis. (Gotta get that guy a name.)