Recently, I accidentally discovered the perfect pairing for a crafty horror fiend as myself: Crocheting aquatic creatures for my son while listening to what I’m calling AquaHorror audiobooks. That is, dark stories about mythic water monsters. I’m a bit of a sucker for the idea of making crafts that are on theme with my reading life, as you may recall from my Reading Afghan project. This time, however, it was actually a happy accident that I just happened to make… twice. So now I’m in it (definitely planning project pairing #3!).
As a stay-at-home parent, it’s not every day that I find myself out and about without a toddler at my side. So, when I found myself in this exact scenario recently, I decided to visit Michael’s on a whim. My son is 2.5 yrs old, so it’d been roughly 2.5 years since I’d been in that particular store as I just don’t love shopping with a baby in tow. But when those big, automatic double-doors opened up to me, I felt like the world was literally (re)opening to me. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I should get back into crocheting, a hobby that I was once nearly addicted to, but had fallen off of once I’d asked myself, “how many hats and scarves can one person really have (or foist upon others)?” I’d attempted to pick it back up while pregnant, but was too sick to complete any projects. But now? Now I could do it.
Happy Accidental Pairing #1: The Sea Turtle and Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant, AKA Seanan McGuire)
For inspiration that day in Michael’s, I took out my phone and started scrolling amigurumi ideas, whereupon I found this wonderful pattern for Fred the Sea Turtle. I was sold. Now I had something fun and challenging to work on while I listened to the audiobook I was thoroughly enjoying at the time. About halfway through the project, the book made a mention of a turtle (I think), and it occurred to me that I was crocheting a sea creature while listening to a book about a sea creature. Only, the creature in my book was a murderous mermaid monster. Considering I don’t think Evil Ariel is the best gift for a toddler, I decided the sea turtle was about as on-theme as I could get for this one.
INTO THE DROWNING DEEP Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off into the Mariana’s Trench to film a mockumentary about mermaids, and never returned. Hoax or tragedy, nobody knows. But now a new ship is setting sail in search of answers, and they’ll soon discover the truth is far more disturbing. MY THOUGHTS This one gave me chills, made my heart race, and had me get seriously invested in characters (thereby exponentially heightening the intensity of the attack scenes). It’s full of tension, jump scares, and gruesome descriptions, but it’s also a great story with great pacing and interesting characters with thoughtful backstories. I loved how the book weaved together mythology and science, and I was pleased with the deaf and LGBTQ+ representation.
I’d been having fun before making the thematic connection, but something about that thematic realization made the whole experience of both the the project and the story that much more interesting. My son was thrilled with the end result, and I was shook by the thrills in the book. Both my mommy brain and my horror fandom brain were satisfied. Win, win! I thought to myself, ‘I should really do that again,’ then quickly forgot all about it.
Until one day, a couple weeks later, I found myself in a very similar scenario.
Happy Accidental Pairing #2: The Frog and The Sirens (Emilia Hart)
Following an out-of-town trip to a friend’s house, where my son feel deeply in love with her daughter’s crocheted frog, I decided I’d make him his own ASAP. But as I scrolled tutorial after tutorial, it occurred to me that my son already had an unmanageable number of stuffies. I had already told friends and family to stop buying them, as I had run out of places to store them. So what was I thinking?! Ok, I thought to myself, time to regroup. After some soul-searching, I decided I’d stick to very small amigurumi, in the hopes that they’d take up less space. That’s when I found this No Sew Leggy Frog pattern. I even opted to use lighter weight yarn and a smaller hook (weight 4, hook 5.5mm), to shrink the size as much as possible.
While I was attempting to recreate my son’s love for a crochet frog, I was also trying to recreate the experience I had reading Into the Drowning Deep; the fear and thrills as mermaid mythology was brought to life in a contemporary setting. I discovered The Sirens. Though not strictly a horror, it offered a dark and disturbing story blending thrills and myth. I was in. And that’s when I realized I’d done it again. AquaCreature meets AquaHorror(ish).
THE SIRENS In 1800, a ship of female convicts on their way into exile in Australia experience disturbing and impossible changes to their bodies. In 2019, a young woman with a rare allergy to water awakes to find her hands around her ex-lover’s throat. Terrified of herself and the consequences, she flees to her sister’s house on an island infamous for tragedy–the repeated disappearances of men. But how is it connected to 1800… and to her? MY THOUGHTS This haunting literary thriller respectfully explores the complex history of exile and women’s (lack of) rights, offering a dark and empowering story of vengeance. It hooked me from start to finish, despite certain elements of the mystery being predictable.
Frogs and mermaids may not exactly be two peas on a lily pad, but they both feature heavily in fairytales, and they’re both aquatic creatures. The siren mythology has always been intriguing to me, but these two books have me thirsty for more. And not just sirens, but all manner of mythic monsters of the sea. As I put together this very specific AquaHorror TBR (feel free to leave me recs in the comments!), I’ll continue to elevate the experience by making my son more amigurumi AquaCreatures.
Thanks for the read!
And you have any AquaHorror book recs or cool AquaCreature crochet patterns, please drop em in the comments!!
Words & Stitches 