Owlie

I'm not much for glitter or beads or shiny doodads, so I've never added any to my knitting.  However, when I saw these cute socks, I decided the time was right to try it.  Owlie is a free pattern on Ravelry and is just perfect for a bird loving grandson.

This is a well written pattern and includes links for tutorials for adding the beads.  I used the method with the crochet hook and it went really well.  I don't know if I'd like to do it for a ton of beads, but for this project, it was just fine. 















The tricky part was finding the right size beads.  There are quite a few websites that sell them, but the shipping is more than the actual beads.  I was getting really frustrated until I happened upon this website.  They are fast and the shipping is reasonable.  I've purchased cross stitch supplies for my mom from them lots of time. 

 

I used Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Oak that was in my stash.  I did decide to change the foot and not knit the owls.  I thought the beads would be rather irritating in a shoe and I didn't like look of the owls without beaded eyes, so I just did a few bands of knit and purl.

Jack really seemed to like them, although I do think he was a little disappointed that they weren't parakeets!

On a personal note, "Jenn" if you read this, I tried to answer your email, but it came back as undeliverable.  I'm not sure why your computer rejected your own address, but the answer to your question is "no, I don't have any patterns that are as small as 35 stitches.  Maybe you could just add an extra stitch on each side of your design as part of a border and use a 37 stitch pattern."