Better pics to come!
Top down is a million times better in my opinion. Pretty much followed the same mods I made before for my first top down owlet but just changed the numbers as follows:

Co 64 with size 9 needles and worked ribbing for 1.5”
Then did the 4 rows of short rows.
Knit one round knitting all wraps as i came to them. Switch to size 10 needles and k1,m1 (Zimmermann style) all around. 128 stitches total
knit 1 round
increase 22 stitches by doing a m1 every 5th or 6th stitch or so all around - 150 sts total
knit 1 round
work owl chart rows 1 -19 UPSIDE DOWN. Because this is being done upside down you will need to change the cable rows to P2,C4F,C4B.
knit 1 round
divide for sleeves as follows to center the short rows: place first 30 stitches on scrap yarn. cast on 6. knit 46 stitches, place next 30 on scrap yarn, cast on 6 sts. knit to end. 102 body stitches total (pattern calls for 96 but I like my sweaters a bit roomier)

knit to 2” shorter than desired length and then do 2” of ribbing and bind off.

sleeves: pick up the 30 sts on scrap yarn and then pick up 6 sts under arms. 36 sts total. knit straight with no decreases (just how I did it) until 2” short from desired length. decrease 4 sts. 32 sts total. switch to size 9 needles and rib for 2” and cast off. repeat for other sleeve.

Bought this yarn many, many years ago because it was on clearance (got an entire bag of it!). Time to use it up!