Crochet Alligator Pouch!

This past month my crochet mojo returned in full force! So for this month's crochet project it was a little hard to figure out the perfect project to work on. I started working on some hats for the family, but I still need a little more work on them before I start sharing my results. So I moved back to working on some more amigurumi projects, but they ended up being more work than I thought. So that too needs more work before I share what I made.

Luckily I remembered an easy project I had saved from Joanns. If you search the project sections there are crochet projects for just about everything. And hidden in there is an alligator pencil case. And since Blue started school, this would be a great present for him!

The Project

Crochet Alligator Pouch

Instructions from Joann.com

Supplies Needed:

Results

Making the alligator is quite simple. (So I won't bore you with screen shots of making it). I was actually able to make both sides and the feet while in the car line. I decided to connect both sides by single crocheting both sides together and then flipping the alligator around.

The project instructions do include how to make eyes and a mouth for the alligator, but I just like the way the alligator looks without them. So I didn't end up making them for this one. (I might for future alligator pouches)

Then came the hard part of this project was learning how to put a zipper into a crochet project. The project directions just say to put one in and even Pinterest didn't help that much. (All the instructions I could find was to just buy a sharp crochet hook, which is really not helpful!)

I just ended up borrowing Mike's awl to poke holes in my zipper as I crocheted along. (I guess its recommended to poke holes first and then crochet, but I found my holes closed up if I tried it that way).

Once I had my zipper fully crocheted around, I did another round by adding two crochet stitches to each of the original stitches.

I then used a slip stitch to add it to my alligator.

The only problem I had was that my zipper was too long (or my alligator was too short!) so I had to keep readjusting my zipper to fit it in the alligator.

Thankfully, I finally figured it out and I was able to complete my alligator pouch!