Winter Owl

WINTER OWLS | THREE-COLOR CROCHET BLANKET

Rows of winter owls perch on snowy branches among snowflakes, fir trees, ornaments and wrapped gifts. White, cyan blue and navy form the complete framed design.

PATTERN SPECIFICATIONS
250 chart stitches x 285 rows; 71,250 original color positions.
A white: 27,658 positions. B cyan blue: 20,834. C navy: 22,758.
Both techniques preserve the complete original picture and frame.
Add 2 C edge sc on each side for 254 worked stitches per row.
Foundation: 255 C chains. Finish after Row 285; no extra closing row.
English instructions, US crochet terminology, right-handed directions.

CHOOSE YOUR TECHNIQUE
Tapestry: BLO single crochet with BOTH inactive yarns carried inside every stitch. CUT and NO-CUT each have separate setup and complete written instructions.

Mosaic: a tapestry-overlay hybrid that combines color changes within rows, sc and selective anchored overlay DC. AX means an anchored white DC on an odd RS row where the current cell and the two cells below are all white. The other cells are sc in their indicated color. Carry both inactive yarns throughout, including the anchoring step. This construction adds overlay texture while preserving the original colors; it uses more than one working yarn within a row.

CUT, both techniques: work every row right to left with RS facing; cut all three colors at each row end and rejoin at the right edge.
NO-CUT, both techniques: keep all three colors attached and turn after EVERY row, alternating right to left / left to right. Mosaic uses BLO sc and marked anchored DC on odd RS rows, and FLO sc only on even WS rows. Tapestry uses BLO sc on both faces.
All four C edge sc use both top loops, with A and B carried inside.

INCLUDED FILES
- Winter-Owls-Mosaic-Complete-250x285.pdf: 111 pages, including 56 A4 chart sections on pages 8-63. CUT setup pages 64-65; written rows 66-87. NO-CUT setup 88-89; written rows 90-111.
- Winter-Owls-Tapestry-Complete-250x285.pdf: 94 pages, including 56 A4 chart sections on pages 7-62. CUT setup pages 63-64; written rows 65-78. NO-CUT setup 79-80; written rows 81-94.
- Two large-format vector one-page charts for screen zoom.
- A 15-page yarn, size and finishing guide, with separate measuring samples for both techniques and both methods.
- Offline yarn/size calculator; design preview; original grid PNG and cell CSV; English/Chinese product descriptions and start guides.

PRINTING AND READING
Each technique has 56 A4 sections arranged in 8 columns and 7 horizontal bands. Print at 100% / Actual size: squares are 5.5 mm and the 10-cell scale bar measures 55 mm. Use the A4 sections for printing. Fitting the one-page chart onto A4 makes the cells smaller.
Letters and Mosaic marks identify every cell in color or monochrome. Row/column labels are 9 pt; written rows use 10.3 pt text with visible direction arrows. Row 1 is at the bottom; column 1 is on the right. Follow each sheet's exact range, working every position once across page joins.

YARN PLANNING
Use smooth yarns of the same weight and choose a hook from a washed swatch. Make the measuring sample for the selected technique AND working method. After two setup rows, weigh the three colors separately for the 20 x 20 panel. Remove loose-tail and lifting-chain yarn from gross use; retain all yarn carried inside stitches. The sample approximates the whole picture's color and anchored-DC proportions.
For each color, body plus proportional side allowance = net panel grams x 180.975. Add measured C foundation/lifting-chain yarn, applicable CUT tails, finishing-border allowance and reserve. The calculator defaults to a 12% border allowance assigned to C and a 10% reserve; adjust them to suit your finish. Round each color up independently using its own meters-per-100-g and ball weight.

ILLUSTRATIVE YARN CALCULATION
Assume net panel A 3 g, B 2.5 g, C 3 g; all labels 300 m / 100 g in 100 g balls; C chains consume 1 cm each; CUT tails 15 cm per end; C border allowance 12%; reserve 10%:
- CUT: A 628.57 g / 1885.70 m / 7 balls; B 529.03 g / 1587.09 m / 6 balls; C 833.60 g / 2500.79 m / 9 balls.
- NO-CUT: A 597.22 g / 1791.65 m / 6 balls; B 497.68 g / 1493.04 m / 5 balls; C 803.29 g / 2409.87 m / 9 balls.
These numbers demonstrate the calculation, not measured requirements for a yarn brand or weight. Enter your own samples for each technique and method. Visible color-cell counts alone do not determine yarn quantities.

FINISHED DIMENSIONS
Let w = washed 20-stitch width and h = washed 20-row height, in cm.
Picture width = 12.5w; body width including side stitches = 12.7w; body height = 14.25h. An outside border b cm wide adds 2b to width and height.
The picture is 50 x 57 inches ONLY at 5 stitches AND 5 rows per inch. At that gauge the body, including four side stitches, is 50.8 x 57 inches / 129.03 x 144.78 cm before an outside border. Printed-cell size and image DPI do not determine fabric gauge.

Digital crochet instructions. Yarn, tools and a finished blanket are not included.