Blooming Owl Wall Hanging
The floral design on my husband’s guitar strap always reminds me of an owl so I drew up a wall hanging for him using the strap as inspiration!
Interlocking & Mosaic
Choose your preferred colorwork technique: interlocking crochet or overlay mosaic crochet.
Written Pattern & Charts
Both colorwork options come with the fully written pattern and charts!
The mosaic charts have X’s marking those dropped double crochets.
The charts look sideways because this design is worked sideways!
No sound on video (well, you can hear my feet crunching on the snow, but there’s no music or voiceover).
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Owl Inspiration
I design a lot of things with my kids in mind. We have three adorable children: Alice, Remington, and Melody. I’ve also got a husband who’s pretty important to me.
Mitch is into music, motorcycles, and coffee. He likes pretty much every style of music and he plays so many different instruments. Growing up, his family was very musical. He and his brother took violin lessons and his sister played the cello. He even teaches guitar and violin lessons on the side.
On his classical guitar he has a black strap with these gold floral motifs that always remind me of an owl. Obviously I can’t replicate these stitches exactly, but I think I captured the idea of a flowery owl in my newest wall hanging design!
You can be the judge, but I’m already proud of it and my husband loves it!
Yarn Choice
I used fingering weight yarn. This is also called 4-ply or 8/4 depending on where you live. Craft Council lists it as a weight 1 – super fine and states it can also be called sock yarn.
You can make a larger wall hanging by using thicker yarn.
I like using cotton for my wall hangings but that’s also optional. Use what’s available to you!
Main Color
The black yarn is “110 Jet Black” Scheepjes Catona. It is 100% mercerized cotton. The small balls are only 50 grams and have 125 metres of yarn. Scheepjes suggests a 2.5 – 3.5 mm needle (I believe that specifically refers to knitting needles). I used a 2.5 mm crochet hook.
I used a full 2 balls. There was barely anything left over (see photo). So, make sure you match my gauge or grab an extra skein.
Contrasting Color
The gold yarn is actually called “Copper” (oops, it is called “Ginger”).
It is from SweetGeorgia Yarns’ Tough Love Sock Yarn line.
We looked online at YarnCanada.ca (that website is closed now – so sad) and I gave Mitch a few options. He said this color was “it” and he didn’t care that it was also the most expensive.
It comes in a twisted hank of 115 grams which gives you 425 yards of soft, silky wool. I only used half the skein.
It cost me $3.65 CAD per ball of Catona, so $7.30 total (but I did buy a 3rd ball just in case). The Tough Love Sock yarn was $33.95 but I only used half, so it cost me about $17 for this project.
It felt really expensive to buy the fancy color Mitch wanted but it was so worth it because this is just beautiful to look at.
Yarn Hanks Need Yarn Swifts
It was my first time using my fancy yarn swift! It is fun having toys!
This is one of the more expensive things I own (related to yarn crafts). I don’t usually buy yarn that comes twisted because it just gets all tangled up.
This was easy to set up and I turned the hank into a cake in a few short minutes!
I do plan on creating a tutorial video for how to use the swift. I don’t think it’s hard but it might help to watch it in action first.
My swift stays in storage until I need it. I attach it to our kitchen table.
The black yarn is in a “skein” that can be used as is. The gold yarn comes in a “hank” and has now been turned into a “cake” in this photo.
Pretty Yarn
The “Tough Love Sock Yarn” is 80% merino wool with 20% polyamide. Because it is a hand-dyed yarn it gives my finished piece a sort of mottled look where the dying process created slightly different shades in the yarn.
Pretty Design
I really love the intricate detail in this piece. You don’t need fancy yarn to get a beautiful result!
Colorwork Options
Like all of my patterns, this pattern is written for my two favorite techniques: interlocking crochet and overlay mosaic crochet. You can choose to use your favorite method or you can try something new!
Overlay Mosaic Crochet
I used the mosaic method because I wanted the fringe on the bottom and I wanted to use the strings at the top to attach the wooden dowel. I created a short YouTube tutorial with some tricks for attaching the dowel.
Interlocking Crochet
If you use interlocking crochet for your project you can still add fringe to the bottom and whipstitch the dowel to the top. Instructions are included in the PDF pattern.
Wrong Side
When I show blanket patterns I often show the wrong side as well because in the course of using a blanket you’re bound to see both sides eventually and it is important to know what that will look like!
With a wall hanging you’re likely not going to be looking at the wrong side after you put it up on the wall.
Which means this is the perfect place to hide the cut ends of yarn (from the overlay mosaic crochet technique)!
I tied mine to the wooden dowel and then made sure they all hung down the back. They’re hidden now and I don’t need to worry about them anymore.
Attaching a Dowel to Your Blooming Owl
I created a video tutorial showing how I used the cut ends on my overlay mosaic crochet piece to attach the dowel to my wall hanging.
This is optional!
You can attach your dowel with your preferred method. You can attach just one at the top or add a second to the bottom. You can do whatever you want to your project!
Important Details
Interlocking / LFM crochet file includes:
- line-by-line written pattern
- one-page chart
Interlocking Crochet Details
- Chart is 85 x 123
- Gauge: 13 stitches x 26 rows = 4”
- Size without fringe or dowel: 13″ x 19″
- 2.5 mm hook (C-2)
- Fingering weight yarn (660 yards total)
- Main color (MC) (the owl, black suggested) – 330 yards
- Accent color (AC) (background, gold suggested) – 330 yards
Overlay Mosaic Crochet file includes:
- line-by-line written pattern
- instructions for optional envelope border
- instructions for reading a chart
- a four-page chart marked with X’s
Mosaic Crochet Details
- Chart is 85 x 123
- Gauge: 26 sc blo stitches x 26 rows = 4”
- Size without fringe: 13″ x 19″
- 2.5 mm hook (C-2)
- Fingering weight yarn (490 yards)
- Main color (owl, black suggested) – 275 yards
- Contrasting color (background, gold suggested) – 215 yards
My daughters were so excited to be part of the photoshoot!