Owl, Redux

Yo. Owl.

This post will be shorter than Owls, Part 1, but in fact it took much longer to write because it contains the instructions I wrote for making the owl. This is the final of three versions. You saw version 2 in the previous post with a crocheted beak.

There are PDF instructions for crocheting the front and back, the eye patch and the wings, and putting it all together. The instructions are detailed (10 pages). I guess I’d rather over explain than confuse someone. Hopefully this isn’t confusing.

I believe this is just in time for that most nocturnal of celebrations, Hallowe’en, although this version is crocheted in Rice Owl colors. I am very fond of blue and brown.

I had fun writing the pattern for this cute little guy! If you try it, please let me know if you like it. Thanks!

Instructions for Crocheted Owl (2.1 MB PDF file)

Owls, Part 1

Two or three weeks ago I got a request from a colleague of Jeff’s to make a coffee cosy. The original request involved a suggestion of pink and purple, but as the day wore on it became apparent that she really wanted animal face of some sort. And then it transpired that she was a Rice graduate. So the face was decided.

Specifically, I was going to come up with a Rice Owl coffee cup cosy. In blue.

Feeling (a) in need of a challenge and (b) up to a challenge, I set off to design my own coffee cup cosy. Along the way, I also designed a matching amigurumi, also an owl in Rice colors. In Part 2 I will unveil my tiny little owl and the pattern for said owl, but in the meantime, let me introduce you to the OWL COFFEE CUP COSY.

This owl would like you to have a lovely cup of coffee. He is snug on a cup, and plenty insulating, and features blanket stitching on top and bottom for decoration.  He has an eye patch and yellow eyes. The eyes are made from yellow felt circles and flat sew-on button eyes.  The nose is a crocheted triangle.

You may see an owl in the background? Designing that owl has been … interesting. Let me introduce you to the mistakes preliminary designs of the owl before I introduce you (in a couple days) to the final owl. First, there was a slightly more … oddly hexagonal body shape.  It was not practical. Then there were wings that were nicely shaped, but impossible to reproduce and way too long for the body. They couldn’t stay, but I might use them elsewhere.

I kind of liked the other eye patch pattern that I made. It has “eyelashes.” I think with the right project these could be really cute with something.

Once my brain can figure out how to complete the final bits of the owl pattern, I will happily post it for a free download, in case anyone likes my rendition of the owl and would like to reproduce it!  It’s always a lovely challenge and a welcome change to make a pattern once in a while instead of just following a design. Wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but sometimes …

My other reason for making this pattern was not being happy with any of the owl patterns I saw. Didn’t like the wings, or the eyes, or the shape exactly. So I made my own. The final one isn’t quite like this fat little guy in this picture (he was version 2), but it’s pretty close.

The owls (and I) say sionara for the evening and we’ll be back soon.

Small is not Easy (but 3 of 5 are done)

Months ago, while I was in the midst of crocheting and stitching large afghans, I opined that I ought to do some small projects, like animals or something.  The idea was to do things I could complete quickly, thinking it might somehow be easier.  So I did.  Some small animals might be easy, and in fact I thought the elephant I did was fun and quick.  The third of my animals has proven more challenging.

Meet the (as-yet-unnamed) Pirate Panda, which is a gift for my brother Jeremy. He has movable shoulder joints (made with buttons).  He comes with accessories – the skull-and-crossbones hat, the eye patch.  I think he’s pretty cute.

Jeremy gets a panda because has a particular fondness for pandas. He and I both support Pandas International. This organization that raises money to support the panda preserve in Wolong, China.  The Wolong preserve is the primary organization for panda research and preservation in the world, and has had a lot of success.  Sadly, it was hit recently by the massive earthquake in China and sustained a lot of damage.

On another note, yes, I know I screwed up my June postings. I thought I’d already posted Friday and then on Saturday morning I realized I hadn’t made a post after all.  I can’t believe I messed up and forgot like that.  Ah well, I guess none of us are perfect, and this was probably not the best month for the attempt in the end, though I couldn’t have known that to begin with.  After realizing I missed Friday, I decided to take Saturday off too.  Why not?

I very nearly took today off as well.  I went hiking today and got heat exhaustion, thanks to our lovely 100+ degree weather.  Without the surprise illness and subsequent nap, I might have made a nice post about the peach syrup I made today.  Do you know, it’s pretty easy to make syrup out of fruit?