Jenni's Guide to Crochet Shells

After many nights fretting over what kinds of stitches I could do to create the cocoon sweater I am working on, I finally narrowed it down to two stitches: the ripple and the shell. I like the two because it offers a decorative way of getting from A to Z without just single or double crocheting all the way across. When trying to figure out the logistics of each stitch, I realized there is a lot to consider when starting from scratch with each stitch. Here is what I determined from the shells:

-The beginning chain should be a multiple of 6 plus 1 (and 2 more for your turning chain)
-3 double crochets make a half-shell, 5 double crochets make a complete shell, and 1 single crochet will go in between each
-Where you Shelled the row before, you will single crochet in the next row, and vice versa (so on and so forth)
-There are a number of different ways to create a shell apart for the basic five double crochet. Some look lacy and some look puffy. There's a million different ways.

Shells are really quite simple once you get a handle on the pattern and counting. The finished product will look quite full and elegant.

Soon, I will work on figuring out the ripple stitch- the variety in ripples is just as extensive as the shells.