Fantastic pattern, well written. Love how the bobbles and garter stitch give a lifelike result, even at this scale !

He enjoyed hanging out in the garden with his friend.

You know that “surprised kitten” YouTube video ? Works with baby gators too !

Nearly small enough (11 cm.) to make into a ring, if you used 4-ply sock yarn or other fingering weight, it’d be a cinch !

Made him in 1 day, but finishing took quite a bit of time, had to hunt through my buttons and beads for his eyes. Used 4mm black glass round beads, 2mm would have given him a too grown-up evil look, like this wide-eyed baby look better. He’ll live in an adults-only household, so no need for safety eyes.
I used the 30 cm tail of GREEN yarn to mattress-stitch the lips, with 1 ply of the three cut out = thinner yarn, then did a running stitch back and forth just behind the nostrils, and pulled = this gathering gives a more lifelike snout. As his gullet kept wanting to pop out, did a line of topstitching from the nostrils to the eyes = stitched the roof of his mouth to the snout, pulling tight means no green shows in his mouth. I stuffed his head as I attached his eyes : just a small wad of stuffing placed between the eyes, that were then sewn on by going back and forth, pulling them towards each other and bunching the stuffing. The slight space beside the bobble was ideal to sink into, so half of the beads sit under the surface.
I used the 10 cm bind-off tail of each leg to stuff it, then used the cast-on tail to attach it, any leftover was stitched into the body (attaching the gullet again).
Knit on Addi Turbo circs, not DPNS, using MagicLoop.
Used DK weight acrylic yarn, knit with smaller needles to obtain tight knit fabric. This yellow is from a cheap embroidery kit for kids = horrible quality Chinese acrylic, but JUST the right reptilian colour. Forgot to measure yardage used :( but looks like I used more than half, so the next one will have to have another yellow at the very back of its throat.

Knit these gators for a b’day pressie, and to combat my “knitting withdrawal” symptoms; I’m not starting any bigger projects, too much other stuff to do this summer. Was eyeballing the Tiny Things gnome pattern by the same designer, so tested this free one first before buying - I like it so much, I’m going to buy her new book ‘Teeny-tiny Mochimochi’ instead !
I wonder if an army of knitted gnomes and mermaids will help me do the DIY…?