Oliver Owl decoration

Here’s Oliver, my Tunisian crochet owl decoration!

Two years ago I made a very cute crocheted bird for a quick but lovely gift to give people – I also kept one for myself of course! The pattern was from the very talented Lucy of Attic24 whose blog and color work is very inspiring.

Last year I was way too busy with Weddings to worry about making more of these very cute birds, so this year when I wanted to give a small handmade gift (and wanted to make something more of my own) I decided to make a tunisian crochet owl as my decoration:-)

Here are the instructions on how to make the owl. They’re untested so if you make one I’d love to hear about it! My apologies if the terminology and formatting is not quite correct. I’m just starting out on my Tunisian journey 🙂

I’m using a 4 ply yarn (with a 3.5mm regular crochet hook) and a tunisian simple stitch to make a firm dense fabric for the body.

You will need:

4 ply yarn in 5 colors (I used purple for the body, pink for the wings, yellow for the beak, orange for the eyes and green for the hanging part and legs), a 3.5 hook, 2 buttons (for eyes) and 2 buttons (or bells if you can find them – that seems a cute idea) for the feet  and some stuffing. I also added a pretty sparkly flower button, so if you can find a trinket or button that works it will help to dress Oliver up!

Tunisian Body

row 1. To make the body make a slip knot and chain 15 stitches. Turn your work and pick up in the back bumps for the first row of Tunisian ss. (tss) You should have 15 stitches on your hook. Make your return pass (ch1 and (yo and pass through 2) repeat ( to ) until you have one stitch on your hook.

row 2. Ch1, and pick up (pu) the front loop/vertical bar, y/o and pull through (pt)- repeat pu y/o pt to the last front loop/bar. Pass the hook through the two loops at end of the row, y/o and pt and ch1. Return pass (as in the first row) to complete the row.

Rows 3 and 4 Repeat row 2, to make a total of 4 rows of tss.

Row 5. Ch1 Decrease by passing through two vertical bars at the start of the row and at the end of the row, thereby decreasing by 2 stitches. Return pass. (13 stitches).

Rows 6, 7 and 8.  Repeat row 2.(All should have 13 stitches).

Row 9. Decrease as in Row 5 (11 stitches).

Rows 10, 11 and 12. Repeat row 2.

Row 13. Ch1, Work a row of sc into the gaps on row 12. (10 sc). Finish off ends leaving a long tail for sewing the body together.

Repeat to make the second half of the body.

To make the eyes

Make a magic loop, ch2 and make 11 hdc into the loop. (12 hdc) Join to the top of the first ch2 with an invisible join (or slst). Finish off ends, leaving a tail on one end for sewing the eye to the body. Repeat so that you have two small discs for the eyes.

To make the beak.

Make a slip knot and ch3 and sc into the chain with a sc in each of the two chains (2 sc). Finish off the ends leaving a tail on one of the ends for joining. (This makes a very small beak for the very small owl – I may have to make an enlarged Owl version down the road)!

To make the wings

Row 1. Make a slip knot (leave a longish tail) and ch5. skip the first chain and Sc into the remaining back bumps of the chain (sc 6)

Rows 2 and 3. Turn work, ch1 and sc into each stitch to the end (sc 5)

Row 4. Turn work, Ch1, sk 1 and sc into each stitch to the end. (sc 4)

Row 5. Turn work, Ch1, sk 1 and sc into each stitch to the end (sc 3)

Row 6. Turn work. Ch1, sk1 and sc into each stitch to the end (sc 2)

Row 7. Turn work. Ch1, ski and sc into the last stitch (is the ch1 from the previous row).

Finish off the ends leaving the tail at the start to attach the wing to the body with.

single crochet owl wings

Putting it all together!

Sew the body parts together leaving a gap in the bottom for stuffing. Pad the body out with the stuffing and sew the opening closed.

Attach two buttons to the center of the crochet eyes and secure to the owl body. Pay careful attention to the placing of the eyes – the position will make it appear owl like!

Sew on the beak placing it between the eyes.

Sew on the wings – these are placed at the side of the body and only sewn along the top edge.

Oliver Owl before he has his embellishment!

Now for the embellishment!

Using green yarn and leaving a long tail at both ends, ch 20. Attach this to the center top to be the hanging loop. Add a colorful button, or small trinket to the chain for some added cuteness. I had a nice sparkly flower from a big bag of cheap buttons that worked perfectly!

Using green yarn again ch 10 (Owls have short legs) … be sure to leave a good length of tail at the beginning and the end. Attach two buttons with the tails and weave the ends back up the chain to the middle. Sew it onto the body.

You’re done!

Let me know how you do with it!