Working the body like the Vormungun pattern and using the owls from, well, owls.

I really started to love this yarn by the time I was done. Its not scratchy, has maybe 1 guard hair in the whole thing, is spun tightly, is quite lanolin-ey, and smells like a farm (in a good way). It is listed as “worsted” but the label said “aran”.

In these pics I’m a tad pudgy in the midsection more than usual and wearing a skirt with a “fold over” edge so I’ll take more pics on a less squishy day ;)

I used Tiger’s Eye beads for all but the 1 set over my heart, and there I used amigurumi eyes (aka safety eyes, total misnomer btw).

What I did:

• longtail caston 136
• k2p2 rib for 2.25 inches
• begin stockinette
• dec’d 4 sts @ sides @ 4.75 inches (132 sts)
• dec’d 4 sts @ sides @ 2.5 inches past previous dec.s (128 sts) work for about 1.5- 2”
• inc 4 sts one st before and 1 st after markers (at 2 sides of sweater body) (132)
• worked another set of 4 increases after a few more inches, before my rib cage got especially wide
• worked until 16.5 “ from caston edge (5.5 inches from last bindoff)
• bindoff 9 sts in armpits, 4 in front side and 5 on back side for a total of 9 while working around in k sts
• cast on 44 sts across the bound off sts (backward loop) while knitting around
• work k2p2 rib over arm sts and k the rest for 3 rounds
• k one more round, k all sts
• inc 4 sts, 2 at either sleeve for total of 210 sts
• work 1 round in k sts
• work 1 round, placing markers every 10 sts (or 20, just remember to work 2 owls between markers then)
• work 2 more rounds, knitting all sts
• begin owls chart at L sleeve
• work 1 round after the chart in pattern
• next round p2tog all the sets of 2 purl sts and the “ear feathers”aka “horns” of the owl (ssk the right ones and k2tog the L ones)
• k all sts for 3 rounds
• k2tog, k5 around (6x21 sts)
• k 1 round even
• start at 1st st before 1st marker : k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1 (placing markers after the k2togs they were previously between) 84 sts
• divide front and back sts evenly (42 each and pm at sides)
• work around until 3 sts before marker for the L shoulder (backside), W&T
• p36 w&t (31st st)
• k30 w&t
• p24 w&t
• k18 w&t
• p12 w&t
• k across to top of L shoulder, knitting each wrap with st it wraps
• work k2p2 ribbing starting at the marker on the L shoulder, work around, knitting the wrapped sts on the right of the back with the sts they wrap as you go.
• Work 5 or 6 rounds in k2p2 ribbing
• Bound off using the “tubular” bindoff for k2p2, which wasn’t as good looking as I’d expected because the sts “pull” across diagonally along the edge to line up with same st type on the back (knit pull diagonally over to the k sts on the other side of the ribbing, purls to purls).