Every 15 or 25 years I become obsessed with getting rid of vast amounts of stuff. Right now I’m going through pounds of paper. How the heck did I find the time to scribble all those notes? And clip out all those bits and pieces of magazines and newspapers with helpful hints?
Apparently this tendency to keep snippets of paper is congenital. I was going through one of my old knitting notebooks (aka fat, red loose-leaf binder with papers poking out of it) and I found clippings from the Detroit Free Press from the late 1960s and early 1970s that had been cut out and carefully preserved by Ma.
All the articles were by Pat Trexler, who wrote a weekly syndicated needlework column from the mid-1960s through the 90s (I think) and Ma was a devoted follower to her dying day. There were multiple clippings about buttonholes.
Those clippings, along with a recent baby sweater I made, led me to play with one-row buttonholes and I came up with a version that’s a little different from all the ones I read about and saw, and I like it. So I’m sharing it with you, as a YouTube program and as a downloadable PDF (because some of us find paper handier than the internet).
DOWNLOAD THE WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS HERE.
Let me know what you think.
Hello Cheryl,
Please clarify for me – is the last cast on loop over that slipped stitch counted as the first stitch counted between buttonholes? I am looking at the printed instructions and am asking about #12. I love the way this buttonhole looks but can’t seem to make the row come out right. Thanks very much!
Hi Judy. Sometimes it’s confusing to describe things in words whereas it’s clearer on the video, and I don’t quite understand your question, the phrase “between buttonholes,” especially. It’s just anchoring stitch that lassoes it around the first “regular” st after the buttonhole. Have you tried watching the video again?
I am making a button band that has fewer buttonholes in it than the pattern calls for. So I needed to figure out how to space the buttonholes. After much trial and error I’ve decided that indeed the last cast on loop passed over the slipped stitch is counted as the first stitch counted between buttonholes. My apologies for the lack of clarity. Thank you for the video and printed instructions. The buttonholes are beautiful!
I’m so glad you worked it out and that you are happy with the look of the buttonholes. Thanks for letting me know.
Hi Cheryl, I was wondering if I could pick your brain about buttonholes. I;m doing my first buttonhole project (baby jacket) and they’re giving me such a headache. It’s a mock rib pattern which calls for an eyelet buttonhole.
I’ve gone for toggles, and the eyelet isn’t going to be big enough (or sturdy enough) so I’m going for a 3-stitch buttonhole over the stockinette stitches. Sounds simple enough. But I’ve tried all kinds of buttonhole and they all look terrible. I either get a buttonhole that has no give at all (tulips buttonhole) or they have holes and gaps in the body of knitting at both ends of the buttonhole. I’ve tried using cable cast on, crochet cast on, knitted cast on all without anything even remotely usable. Any ideas/suggestions what I could be doing wrong or which would be the best buttonhole method? I’ve followed several youtube videos, but what I’m producing looks nothing like what they’re getting.
I was just about to try this one, until I remembered you didn’t think it looked right on stockinette.
Hi Mark,
I need a little more information to visualize this. “Mock rib” is something of a generic term. There’s more than one way to do it so I need to know which version you’re using. Twice you refer to stockinette but I think you mean the mock rib? But off the top of my head I have a couple of things to suggest: 1) with toggle buttons one often adds “loops” to the edge of the front rather than using buttonholes. These can be crocheted (easiest but not necessarily the most handsome), or knitted I-cord. 2) for ribbing, or variation thereof, I think vertical buttonholes look best, especially when they’re “in the ditch” (where the purl would go between 2 knits) There are several ways to do this and I haven’t made a video of one yet. I’ve been driving myself a little crazy trying to find the directions/illustrations for a clever one that I saw years ago but have not yet found it. Anyway . . . search out vertical buttonholes and see what you find. I really like this woman’s work: http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2012/03/vertical-buttonholes-part-4-in-series.html Hope this helps. Meanwhile, I’ll renew my efforts to find that other buttonhole I’m thinking of. I hope I didn’t just dream it. 😀
Just in time….started a baby sweater for a friend and surely gonna try this…Just a little hurmor…I never see that ball that you worked so hard with me trying to teach me how to do it….think that was one of the biggest challenges I have ever knitted, but you did it…you stayed with me until I got it right and I thank you so much for your time to help all the knitters…You know how I feel, You are just wonderful!!!!
Thank you Joan. You were one of my inspirations to even attempt to do that and you have been such a sweet support for me that I appreciate you more than you know. I was so relieved when you posted that your recent trip to the Cancer Center was not scary. You’re right. Prayers work and you had mine. xo
What great fun to see a snapshot of the 1970 clipping in the Detroit Free Press by Pat Trexler – instant reminiscence! I am from Detroit and that is the EXACT point at which the skilled homemaking neighbor lady across the street taught my 14 year old self how to knit. Alas for me, I did not stick with it then, but I did pick it back up with an intense passion at age 55 and will now never stop, for I am BRAVE and no longer afflicted with a teenager’s attention span :-). Nearing 60 and knitting strong. Thank you, Cheryl!
Andrea! I didn’t know you were from Detroit! What fun that recognized Pat Trexler. It was a weekly column and my mom and I both loved it. Thank YOU Andrea! Wonderful that you picked it up again and are brave. It’s a worthy art and hopefully you’ll have a few decades to practice it. Nearing 70 and knitting strong. 😀
Hi Cheryl,
Thanks for sharing this buttonhole technique. I enjoy everything you publish and wish there was much more. I look forward to your next video.
J
You are so welcome Jane and thank you for commenting so kindly. I think I have a strategy that will help me produce more work . . . It involves using the best media for each piece of information. YouTube/video isn’t the best medium for all things teachable. And how sweet of you to say you wish there was much more. Thank you. Thank you. As my “little” brother pointed out about 9 times this past weekend at his birthday celebration of 64, I’m “pushing 70,” though I won’t even be 69 for another couple of months. Still . . . I realize I have slowed down. All the more reason to contribute as much as I can in the time I have left. I hope it’s a while yet because I’m having fun.
Hi cheryl, my name is rose and i live in England, and i would like to take this oppertunity to say hello and tell u how much i enjoy watching n listening to your videos i liked your demo and the way you think about things as in i was watching your demo on making a jumper, and you were saying and demonstrating the sillyness of the 12″ measure for around, i found that quite amusing as i would have thaught the same and in the same way you did!! You see i dont subscribe to facebook/ twitter so email is my only way to contact you. Would it be too much to ask u for an email address that i could conntact you by if i need your help? Let me appologise for hijacking you button hole sight, but it was a chance to contact you i do hop u dont mind
Thank you
Rose
Thanks Rose, for your kind comment! My email is cb@cherylbrunette.com and if you sign up for my email newsletter group on my home page here you’ll get my email newsletter and have lots of opportunity for information.