I have just put the buttonHOLE band (in BLACK) on for the third time...I should say I have re-knit the entire thing with 7 - count ‘em, SEVEN!!! buttonholes - like completed one whole band, attached it with a garter bar - remember, I’m talking black at T5 - didn’t like it, picked it off; made the second one, attached it, darned in the freaking ends - still didn’t like it, unpicked it off...same problem as with the first one! My newest, totally awesome, bound-looking buttonholes have a problem with a loose thread on one side...and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing that caused it...well, finally on the third time, I realized that when I was casting off the stitches, beginning on the right, after transferring the 2nd stitch to the 3rd needle, I was wrapping the yarn, coming from the right, under the needle and then into the hook from the left side - almost like wrapping the needle first, instead of just taking the yarn from the right and putting it directly left into the hook to cast off the next stitches - this little 'faux pas' was making a looser stitch that was really noticeable (to me anyway) after it was all done and off the machine - but, the good news! - if you were actually casting off stitch by stitch and needed it a bit looser - this would work! who knew? oh, don’t answer that....
Here's the buttonhole instructions from Simple-icity:
Buttonhole band. As for button band, making 7 buttonholes spaced as desired, as follows:
Cut a 3 yd length (3X width of n’s in work) of MC and set aside. As for button band, to RC007. Bring out 4 n’s for each buttonhole (for 20mm/7/8 inch button). Make a note of needle numbers. Ravel cord, knit by hand the buttonhole sts, leaving n’s in work. K7R. RC014. Fold row, T10, K1R. Knit to RC022. Bring buttonhole n’s slightly forward. Pick up sinker loops of MC (above ravel cord - there are 5). Place on n’s above, starting one needle to right of noted n’s. With extra piece of MC, from right, knit sts on first n, leave it in place. Knit next doubled stitch, then transfer it to left, leaving empty n. Repeat on next 3 n’s, to 4 empty n’s. After last transfer, knit and leave in place to anchor end of hole. Carry extra yarn to next buttonhole and do all buttonholes in this manner. Go back to right with extra yarn, chain across empty n’s (in hooks), anchoring yarn by wrapping on either side of buttonhole. The extra strands will be encased in the band. Pick up sts below ravel cord, hang on previously empty n’s. Pull out ravel cord. Pull loops through chain. On each side of buttonhole, wrap next stitch/needle and bring all n’s out, pushing work behind latches. Knit to RC029 and finish as for button band, attaching to right side of garment.
I could show you how nice it looks in black, but you’d just have to take my word for it! I'll tell you later what the band was being attached to....
On my
red swatch, when I was doing the final cast-off by hand, somehow, without
realizing it in time, I missed a stitch and after I pulled out the ravel card
and tugged on the edge to test it, guess what - boom! not just one dropped
stitch! so, particularly with these finer yarns that I am using, that cast-off
is benched. To be honest, that is one is really only for the purist. I'm fine
with just transferring all to the main bed and doing the back stitch cast-off
which gives the stretch needed for this project. I did make another small
swatch to test it out - after one zigzag row at the end, so there were single
stitches on each bed, I transferred all to the main bed and began the back
stitch cast-off - it was a bit of trouble to make sure you were going through
both stitches so for the last half, I carefully knit the back bed stitch
through the stitch in front which would be the ribber stitch, leaving only one
stitch on each needle and then the back stitch worked fine and looked pretty
good. I didn't knit a row after transferring up because that would have made an
extra stockinette row that would have showed on the cast-off.
Knitting
the actual scarf, I did 18 rows, tucking on the main bed, 2 zigzag rows and
switched to tucking on the ribber, 2 zigzag rows...but after a bit, I kept
getting confused after the zigzag rows as to whether I should be tucking on the
main bed or the rib bed. I thought about it for a minute and thought, hummmm...I
need to hang something that I can move up and down to remind myself which step
I was on. I spotted my prize, little green clippy that my friend Jane gave me -
it was perfect to clip on the scarf for the rib part and then move up to the
knit bed and clip on something up there - it was like having Janey sitting on my
shoulder, like an angel, telling me what to do! ;-) Happy
day!
