Owl Keep Your Place

Now that my refashioned Hitchhiker's Jacket is finished (finally), I can get back to knitting up Christmas gifts.  Considering that the mail is hideously slow, I need to get these sent out by the first week of December, and I'm so far behind, it's terrifying.

But that's okay, because I just stumbled across a cute gift idea that I think a lot of people will be getting this year: the Owly Bookmark!

Well, sort of.  I basically just drew inspiration from the original pattern, because I changed the main part of the bookmark to stockinette from...whatever the heck the designer had going on (I must've been doing something wrong because it looked like a garbly mess when I tried it).  And then I changed the owl design to something shorter and stouter, making it up as I went (I've knit a lot of owly things, so I have the gist of them by now).  And then I used french knots instead of eyes.

I got it finished off in one evening.  The only reason it took as long as it did (maybe 3 hours) is because I messed around with stitch types before I stuck with stockinette, and because I knit this thing so tight, my 3.0 mm bamboo needles are now oddly bent and I suspect the yarn indent on my finger is permanent.  It was fun to do though, and I think I'm going to play with different stitches on the main part of the bookmark.

DETAILS:
Pattern: Owly Bookmark Pattern (sort of)
Yarn: Mystery acrylic from my stash - I suspect Red Heart brand (7 g - 11.6 m)
Needles: 3.0 mm
Alterations: Changed main part of bookmark to stockinette.  Reduced body length to 6 rows before cabling and reduced the head to 4 rows before cabling.  Used french knots for eyes instead of buttons.
New Techniques Learned: Knit through the front and back loop.