I am stumped! They aren’t listed in the pattern as French knots, and they don’t appear to be 1/4 or 1/2 stitches like elsewhere in the pattern, they are just sort of… there.
It’s a free pattern from DMC, so I am suprised that it’s so ambiguous. The DMC patterns have been pretty good so far…
It’s this pattern if you’d like to see the whole thing: https://www.dmc.com/AU/en-GB/products/cross-stitch-cat-chistmas-baubles
Edit: After staring at the pattern for a while, one thing I noticed is under the French knots, it lists the black for the eyes, and another colour E5200… looking at the pattern I cannot see a single spot where the E5200 French knot is used… Do you think there is a mistake in the pattern, and the E5200 is meant to be the pink circles for the paws?
Yeah, seems likely that E5200 is a mistake. The French Knots still need to be done, but it almost looks like they cut & pasted the French Knot instructions from a different pattern maybe?