And then there was a decision to be made about color. Should I go for something neutral and in a palette that is owl appropriate?
I will say that I almost never use suggested yarns for knitting patterns. In my early knitting days, it was a lack of access, I suppose, and with vintage patterns, the yarn is often no longer produced and/or very difficult to find. For the vast majority of my knit projects, I simply find a similar weighted yarn in a color that I like, and make it work.
But for some reason, with this pattern, I went looking for one of the suggested yarns: in this case, Rowan Cocoon. I found it for a great price, and I decided that pink owls would be lovely, whether or not they exist in nature!
I had my needles and my yarn, but for whatever reason, I never got started on the project until November 2019.
After finally casting on, the sweater was completed very quickly. It's amazing how little time it takes to knit up a bulky weight yarn!
I definitely prefer working with lighter weight wool, but how could I resist these little owls!
There was always a question of whether or not I would add buttons for eyes. In the end, I decided against it, preferring that the little creatures be a little more challenging to find.
And that just left weaving in a few ends.
Here are the little guys prior to a wash/blocking.
And after a gentle bath . . .
Here is the completed sweater.
I finally wore the sweater and took some pictures. The only real issue is the yarn. I paired this with a black wool skirt, and boy does that mohair fuzz get everywhere!! I am used to having Tino fur hang around my wool clothing, but this is a whole new level of fuzz transfer. I may just have to find a tweedy wool to make a skirt that won't show the pink mohair quite so well!