January Prime Time entry

Fred and his 3 passengers were extremely lucky when our engine failure caused a crash landing last July minutes after flying over crocodile infested waters in the Kakadu National Park close to Darwin. We hope to get her back in the air in a week or two, and I made all of the crash surviors their own baby gator (renamed a croc and with teeth added) and gave presented them last Saturday when we finally got together again. Shirley now lives in Brunei and comes home when she can.

The pattern is fun to make and although it looks like a lot of work and fiddly, it really isn't. The directions are excellent and if you follow each step in order, you will have a baby gator in a short time. The "mama" used the same pattern with double strands of the yarn and 7mm needles instead of 3.75 with a single strand of yarn for the babies. I used Kid 'n Ewe worsted for the green and Merino Magic Dk wt for the red mouths. The first one used worsted cotton for the mouth and I found the lighter weight yarn fit into the green jaws a bit easier. I magic looped them and think that made a difference in ease of making them. They are also cuter before all the teeth, and maybe 3 teeth would be my choice next time.

I saw the red mouth done on Kcarlyle's project page for the Baby Gators by Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land patterns. See "baby gators" for pattern info on Ravelry. I wrote to Kate and to Anna (designer) and each wrote back an encouraging reply with the free pattern information. I'm hooked on these little tiny projects and have more planned with the patterns I did buy from Anna. Stay tuned for some cuties in the future.

I became "friends" with Kate who has joined our Carefree KAL I'm happy to say and also with Anna who is going to use some pics of the Kakadu incident and the baby crocs in a future posting on her blog. :) Knitters are such special people and sure do bring us closer together. Amazing when I think about Kate being in Saudi Arabia, Anna in New York and I'm in the bottom of Australia. :)

The map dishcloths as well as the round cloths are by Rhonda White who is one my favs for fun and interesting short projects. I am never disappointed when I choose one of her designs. I decided to use a provisional cast on and then kitchener for the last round cloth and think it makes a much nicer finish.

The guest towel became a face cloth for the guest bathroom. I decided it was too narrow for the guest towel I had envisioned. Another project for another time. I still have to finish the December socks for Fred and hope to have them ready by Valentine's Day. They won't count for February, I know, but I'll have him model them and post the pic when he does get them.

My entry is made up of several projects and does exceed the minimum of 300 yds for sure :).

I posted most of the starts, so will do just the finished pics unless the start wasn't posted.