A whimsical way to spice up your outerwear. You can’t help but smile when you’ve got owls peeking out of your boots! Made to match Feathery Owl Hat pattern.

Pattern includes: complete written instructions for 9 sizes (for children and adults), chart of stitch pattern, written instructions for both knit and felt applique owl faces. Plus: tips for changing size or gauge, making boot-toppers to fold down over your boot, and making different animal faces.

It’s been sort of difficult for me to type up this description without saying “give a hoot, top your boot!”. There, glad we got that out of the way. (In case you’re wondering, this dilemma arose due to an old US forest service announcement, in which an owl named Woodsy wisely urged: “Give a hoot, don’t pollute!”.)

Yarn: Shown in: Jenny Watson Pure Merino DK. (135 yards/123 meters, 50 grams/1.76 ounces) in color “Aubergine”. Size 9.7in/24.5cm (shown) used 128yds/117m.
Gauge: 4.5 sts/in (18sts/ 4in, 18 sts/10cm) in pattern stitch.
Needles: DPNs or circular(s), in size needed to obtain gauge. I used US size 5/3.75mm. For the knitted owl face shown above, you’ll need DPNs approx. US size 4/3.50 mm and US size 1/ 2.25mm.
Notions: For eyes and beak: you’ll need scraps of sock yarn, or embroidery floss, or scraps of felt or fabric, and thread.
Sizes: 9 sizes (by circumference). 5.3in/13.5cm, 6.2in/16cm, 7in/18cm, 8in/20cm, 9in/ 22.5cm, 9.7in/24.5cm, 10.5in/ 27cm, 11.5in/ 29cm, 12.4in/ 32cm. Choose a size with between 1 in/ 2.5 cm and 2 in/ 5 cm of negative ease measured around the upper calf, they are stretchy.

Skills: Knit, purl, yarn over, cast on, cast off, knit in the round.
Depending on how you apply the owl face, possible skills include: cutting shapes out of fabric, applique, blanket stitch, whipstitch, chain-stitch, basting, duplicate stitching, crochet. The knit and appliqued face uses: knit, purl, KFB increase, knit in the round, figure-8 cast-on or “Judy’s magic cast-on”, any sewing stitch that you can use to applique the pieces to the boot toppers.

Accessibility Notes: All charted sections also written, 12 point serif font with bolded and underlined headings, no columns (except for abbreviation key).