What can you do with just one button?

I've got some really amazing buttons in my stash and often lamented to myself, if only they had a matching mate! Here are my three favorite uses for forlorn yet fancy buttons:

1. Find that perfect one-button project that needs something special to make it stand out. I recently knit a cozy for my smartphone using some handspun I found in my stash (in the festivus colorway, no less!), and went scavenging through my button bins to find the perfect finishing button.

Tea Leaves

2. Have a show-stopping 'accent' button at the top of the sweater, and similarly-colored buttons that match each other for the rest of the buttonholes. This is my new favorite trick, one I employed to great effect on my Tea Leaves Cardigan.

3. Let go of the notion that all your notions must all look alike and button your sweater with a hodgepodge of mismatched buttons! I got this idea from a sweater model in Ysolda Teague's TNNA booth in Columbus - it was such a cute idea, I intend to try it out for myself sometime soon!

Shameless self-promotion: If you'd like to try this at home (and I recommend that you do!) I've got all kinds of one-of-a-kind buttons in my etsy shop - all of my hand-picked grab bags feature an assortment of vintage buttons, and I make a point to ensure there are several sets of matching buttons mingling with their mismatched milieu.

Comments

Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...

App Review & Giveaway: Stash 2 Go

The developers for a paid Ravelry app for iPad and iPhone called Stash 2 Go contacted me earlier this year to see if I was interested in writing a review or their app on their blog. While I don't own an iPad or iPhone, I was able to gift a download to a knitting friend who had an iPad and was willing to let me play around with it for the purposes of this review! This is the first time I've ever accessed Ravelry via an app (on my Android phone, I typically use the m.ravelry.com site), and I found most of it to be easy to use. Some of the features weren’t intuitive to me at first, but once I got the hang of the idiosyncracies, it was smooth sailing. Stash 2 Go makes the most of API functions Ravelry has opened up to developers (there are still several areas which have yet to be completed in the Ravelry programming interface, so developers can only implement what is available through www.ravelry.com/api ). Most of the app's functionality allows the user to view the ...

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her. We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

handmade by stefanie

Search This Blog