Amigurumi - Owl

The crochet hook is stuck on my hands. I crocheted this cute owl and made it into a key chain. This craft/art is called Amigurumi, which is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting stuffed animals or other creatures. Again, to be friendly to Mother Earth, I used my left over yarns since this tiny creature doesn't require lots of yarn. This is the first one I made by following Roxycraft's "Woody The Owl" pattern, (it's free, go and get it here!).

It is quite easy to follow but I found that the instructions aren't very complete. A novice Amigurumi practitioner like me had lots of question marks floating around my head at certain steps like the placement of the eyes, the nose, the wings and the feet. Since I experimented with it, I am able to give more detailed instruction. I made 2 of them to compare and I am going to tell you where the ideal location is :)

1. EYES - The stem at the back of the eye should poke through between row 10 and 11, 8 stitches apart. Glue it or screw it, depend which type of eyes you have. I used the glued one, it is cheaper than the screwed one.
2. NOSE - It says "stitch to face with top edge 1 row above the eyes", it means top edge of the eye.
3. WINGS - It didn't say should I use right side with the flap curl-out or wrong side with the flap curl-in, so I used both to test out and I like the wrong side with the flap curl-in (as shown below). Sew it on on the position between row 7 & 8 and 3 stitches counting from the stem of the eye. Remember to tilt the wings so that the tip is at a slight angle pointing to the front of the owl.
4. FEET / CLAWS - It didn't say anything about it in the pattern but it was there, so I am going to tell you where. Start sewing the centre claw at row 14 and 2 stitches counting from the tip of the nose. Sew it down vertically to row 16. Make another 2 diagonal left and right claws 1 stitch away from the center. Do the same to the other foot.

This is the second one I made after testing out the first one. Both of them look a bit different and it is because of the difference in those positionings I mentioned above.

Try it out, this owl is just too lovely to resist :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, I would love to explain to you.