STUDENT NEWS
I only received one lesson to review this week but I got quite a few new students, including one from Bayreuth, Germany which is on my bucket list. Perhaps I should consider a hand delivery!
TIP OF THE WEEK
As I was teaching the Finishing Course in Manchester, I realized that there were a few topics missing in my videos. I will fill these in the upcoming weeks. This week, vertical buttonholes....If you do the Masters Program you have to do three swatches of different stitch patterns demonstrating that you can make an eyelet buttonhole, vertical buttonhole and a horizontal buttonhole. Some knitters are confused thinking this is how the buttonhole should look on the band. It refers to how the buttonhole is made.
There aren't that many ways to make a vertical buttonhole. The advantage of this type of buttonhole is that it can be any size you want (which makes it ideal for big decorative buttons) and that it is easy to make. The disadvantages are that it isn't very sturdy and quite a bit of clean up is required. Oh, those yarn tails!
To make one, you work to where you want the buttonhole and drop the working yarn. Use another ball to work to the end of the band. In the photograph I have used a different color, Work each side of the buttonhole until it is the size that you want and then work the entire row with one ball of yarn. It can be hard to gauge how big to make the buttonhole so I recommend working a sample first.
When you finish you have to deal with the yarn tails which is actually a good thing. You can use the tails to snug up the top and bottom of the buttonholes. If you don't do this, the buttonhole is very loose. This photograph shows the WS of the buttonhole. Notice how the tail weaves are woven in.
Here is the RS. This is a very neat buttonhole, particularly in ribbing. This is the link to the video. George was very helpful in the video. Vertical Buttonholes
KNITTING SALON
There will be salon this weekend. Send me a message and I will let you know the date and time.
CURRENT PROJECTS
As I said, I had hoped to finish these sweaters. No such luck. The baby size is done and I am halfway through with the child size.
Here is the adult size blocked.
So ... I'm making a cowl (for my perfectionist spouse), where I want 3 neat vertical buttonholes.
ReplyDeleteIf I understand correctly, I should have 4 small balls of yarn to use for each 'space' between buttonholes. Like so:
xxxx 3 xxxx 2 xxxx 1 xxxx
where the x's are balls of yarn. Then i should use the tails of each ball of yarn to tighten up the stitches and reinforce the buttonholes.
Many thanks to you (and George) for the video.
p.s. Some beautiful knitting in this blog. I plan to read more.