Thursday, May 22, 2014

Buttons


Spring cleaning the attic unearthed a box of old jars that once sat on shelves lining a back wall of our old country home kitchen, from a time that now seems another life.  Not quite done looking at this luminescent blue Mason jar (dated 1848), I filled it with some yard sale vintage buttons and perched it on the window sill next to my sewing machine.  I really do love buttons, and this jar adds to an ever-growing stash.  Lately, I have been attaching vintage buttons to my knitting, like these white ones that went on this lovely little baby sweater, I made for a silent auction at church



The quirky, big, bright, unique ones have landed on a stack of button headbands I have been knitting for Christmas giving.  I bought some discounted Plymouth yarn (Sin City and Europa Tweed) and used a free online pattern to knit my way through the yarn and my button tins and jars.


The pattern is pretty simple:   You simply cast on 64 stitches, choose to knit in a k2 p2 rib or seed stitch, knit in the round for 3 inches and bind off. The little band that goes around the head band is a 5 inch strip of 8 stitches (garter or seed stitch) which you secure around the head band to crimp it a bit.
I used a 10.5, 16 inch circular needle.

And then the fun continues--you secure the band with a button!



And oh my, I have such wonderful ones to choose from!  I just read that one way to tie a quilt for binding is to attach a button.  Well, that certainly seems like a good idea to me.

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