An unexpected pleasure

My friend, as is her wont, gave me a scrap of leftover yarn to play with. Having a lot of time on my hands at the moment (I know, Christmas is coming, but I seem to be living a little to one side of reality this year), I measured out the exact yardage, then poked around on Ravelry and found a little toy I could make. I was finishing it up and thinking about whether there was an obvious recipient, or whether it was destined for The Box, when I stopped and really looked at how it turned out. A perfect match of pattern and yarn. The gradient moves from purple-blue at the base through green to a golden orange.

He's mine.

Pattern: Maria Yarley's Sebastian Owl

Needles: 3.75 mm dpns

Yarn: unknown Irish worsted plus Lion Brand Wool Ease in Forest Green

Mods: I did the 20 rounds of seed stitch the pattern indicated, but continued in stockinette with the same yarn instead of switching to another yarn since the gradient color changed right then. When I ran out I used scrap yarn to finish. After I attached the eyes I realized I wanted more green over the eyes, so wound up with 19 rounds of stockinette instead of 15. I used felt circles and attachable eyes instead of glue, and some scrap orange cotton for the beak. The instructions don’t ever say to stuff it, but it was obvious when. I used Jeny’s super-stretchy bind-off in a 3-needle variation, to emphasize his ears.