01
What this one is
I started swapping ideas for this tote around on a warm evening, thinking about the person who'd actually carry it: someone who loves the ocean even on the days they can't get to it, who wants something sturdy enough for the farmers market and charming enough to make strangers ask where you got it. This one is for anyone who likes bold color against plain tan, and who doesn't mind a project with a few small pieces to keep a lap busy.
Your hands spend most of their time on two long single crochet panels, worked back and forth until each reaches sixty rows tall, then shift to smaller, fiddlier work: a pair of handles built row after row, and a handful of fish and coral shapes made in rounds with two different hook sizes. Expect this to stretch over several sittings rather than one go, with the panels taking the bulk of the time and the appliqués filling in shorter stretches afterward.
02
Try it another way
If you want a smaller bag, shorten the body panels - they're worked in plain single crochet at 56 stitches wide, so you can stop before row 60 and still have a usable tote, just a little shorter than the 15-inch finished height. The handles are just as easy to adjust: worked at 8 stitches wide, you can add or subtract rows from the suggested 100 to sit the strap higher or lower on your shoulder. For color, the pattern already leans on tan/sand, blue, coral, and turquoise, but you could swap the assorted pinks, oranges, and greens in the coral for a single family of color if you want a calmer reef, or push the contrast harder if you want the appliqués to really pop against the sand-colored panels. The scalloped wave row across 112 stitches reads nicely in a second shade of blue instead of matching the main color, which gives the top edge its own line without extra yardage. If you'd rather skip the appliqué work altogether, the plain panels and wave trim make a perfectly good beach tote on their own, and you can always add fish and coral later once you've lived with the bag for a while.
