theraineysisters knitting and so much more

February 3, 2013

From Sally — Pinning My Hopes on Buttons (again)

Filed under: Iolanthe — surly @ 1:58 pm

Well, my beautiful glass buttons didn’t work out for my Burr Cardigan.  But I never learn, so now I am again trying to pair some beautiful buttons I found with some yarn.  This time, I am fairly confident.  (Of course, I was confident before, but let’s just ignore history.)

The sweater: Iolanthe designed by Mary Annarella.

The yarn: Madelinetosh Merino Light in Well Water.

The buttons: a set of seven vintage buttons purchased last year at Yarnover.

This is a top down cardigan. The lace collar is knitted (it’s really a miniature shawl) and sewn on later. I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I thought I’d post a first photo with a couple of the buttons pinned on. I think they’ll work in part because the buttons are tonal with a little color variegation as is the yarn.

Here is a photo of the back with a few more buttons randomly pinned on to look at the color. There are one or two buttons that are darker than the rest (I swear it’s just like buying skeins of these hand-dyed yarns). But one of the great things about this pattern is that you choose how many buttons you want, and you can do it at the last minute because the buttonholes are already there as part of the edging pattern. I love this kind of flexibility. There are several sleeve options for the pattern; I plan on making full length sleeves.

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