A new pattern!
Wide Old Owl Pattern
I like owls and got a good response to my peacock coasters, so an owl coaster was a natural choice for design. I wanted to make one that was completely flat – no eyes sewn on top of a base, as was the case with every owl coaster pattern I found. In fact, I really wanted to make eyes and a beak separately and then stitch the body around all three of them, but that was not to be. I was unable to make a small diamond shape in crochet; the points all soften too much.
However, I did get the eyes to work out as planned. You make two eyes, in one of two versions (or, I suppose, one of each if you like), and then join a new yarn to stitch the body around them. The beak is done via color change and a long stitch, inspired by overlay crochet. It does sit on top of the rest, but my investigation shows it’s not enough of a bump to make issues with your glass, can, or bottle.
There are eyes with an open center and eyes with a solid center worked in two colors. I personally prefer the open center, but they only look good on a contrasting background. The only uncommon stitches used are triple treble crochet (4 yarn-overs) and linked triple crochet (instead of two yarn overs, two loops are pulled up through the side of the previous stitch); they are taught in the pattern, and the pattern page also links to a video of linked triple crochet.
Incidentally, you can make these with a solid eye of 12 dc in a ring. That was my original eye, but the result is a little creepy so I changed it!
