I started doing a lot of sitting around in front of the tv. This normally doesn't pop up until football season starts which also coincides with the weather cooling down - and trust me, it's only been HOT around here. However, the Olympics are on and I don't want to miss a beat of it! Another factor is my struggle completing the third book in the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. The first two were managable. This third book, not so much.
So, I woke up a few days ago and thought to myself, "man, I should get those knitting needles out!" Fortunately one of my little friends is turning 3 at the end of this month and I've been invited to the birthday party. What a great time to make up a special gift!
It took me a while to get started on this one. I had to cast on 150 stitches and attempted to use the magic loop method to knit in the round. Because of the number of stitches, this was not possible. Immediately I got frustrated but my mind kept going thinking of how to make things work. I found that I would be able to knit in the round on two circular needles and was quickly on my way.
I did use the magic loop method on the eyes. There are a lot of circular things I see that are crochet. Here I was able to make something circular while knitting and have high hopes I can do some sort of knitted flowers in the future.
The beak was pretty straight forward. Here's my dude before any kind of finishing! As you'll soon see, I did make a few changes.
One side I was able to bind together using the kitchener stitch pulling it off of the needles. I was extremely happy with the way that seam came together. I was more nervous about the other side. I used some clips to hold the sides together as I knitted down. Fortunately Google and YouTube helped me out and I found an informational video about joining the seams together. As I went down the body I was also stuffing my owl. It was challenging to make sure I had enough stuffing and that it took enough shape to look the way I wanted him to.
FINAL PRODUCT!!!! Husband helped me find some larger buttons for the eyes so the ones above are not the same as the one in my mock up. I also sewed the nose on a little crooked. I think things gives my owl a special personality. The side stitching ended up GREAT. Often there is at least one or two things I end up disliking about my final products - something to be sure to improve upon for the next time. From this project I took away a few new skills. When I make this guy (or girl) next time - yes WHEN - I'll be able to do so faster than this first time. Granted, I started this on Monday and today's Thursday so that's not very long for a project at all!
If you're interested in working on your own owl, here's the pattern. I did Bubo the Great. Happy Knitting!
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