Friday Find - Buttons!

OK now, 'fess up, I know you have them. Somewhere in a box, on a shelf, or tucked away in a cabinet, is your collection of buttons. Perhaps they are buttons inherited from your grandmother, maybe they were saved from discarded clothes or purchased new.

I love old buttons and have a small collection, including some on their original cards 

as well as several antique canning jars full sitting on a shelf in my studio, very much like the ones shown above in the first photo.

I use them for knit sweaters and sewing projects on occasion, but I also simply enjoy their decorative luster, carved designs and lovely colors.

For today's Friday Find I want to share some beautiful button jewelry from Etsy.com artist Quench Metalworks who creates interesting collage jewelry from antique buttons, gemstones and other oddments like broken china bits, set in sterling silver.

I admired many items such as this multiple button collar, 

simple pendant,

and button ring

The Etsy site has a lot to see, but you might also check out this Maine artist's website for many more interesting silver jewelry pieces. 

This gets my creative juices going, I think I might pull out some buttons this weekend and see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a wonderful weekend!

Button jar photo http://www.countryliving.com/homes/how-to-get-the-look/point-blanc-0205#slide-3

Jewelry photos: http://www.etsy.com/shop/quenchmetalworks?ref=seller_info

Getting Cozy

This snowy weather really gets my knitting fires burning.  All I want to do these days is knit, knit, knit, eat a little dark chocolate, knit, play in the snow, drink some hot tea, and knit some more.   Of course, real life doesn't cooperate with my knitting plans!

Mostly I've been knitting my beige heather wool cardigan and my grey mohair cardi shrug.  Both have had their ups and downs and will likely be some time before completion, but I'm happy overall with the progress made this week.   

In order to to make progress on the cardigan, I ripped out and restarted it from the beginning - twice.  

It was OK, but not a love thing.  So I went back to the stitch pattern and played around with it, adding some stitches and changing the proportions slightly.  Then I mixed in more tweaks to the top-down shaping, and I like it much better.  

The mohair shrug is a third version of the two I made last year, this time in a different stitch pattern and yarn.  

I still have several more versions I want to make, at least one in sock or fingering weight yarn.

While on my Michigan trip I found another button option for my grey cardigan.  I've loved the suggestions left on Ravelry and the comments to previous posts so far, thank you especially Doreen and Diana!  This bone one is really too small, but it works temporarily at least.

What with the trip last week, the crazy weather and power outage, and various commitments and appointments, I've not been able to correspond much, but to all my blogging friends and Ravelry pals I owe messages to, that is on my schedule for this week.

I hope to have more photos of my current WIPs soon and planned for the next post is a rundown of my trip north to Michigan.

One exciting thing at my post office box when I returned last week was a surprise package from the lovely Anne-Sara, proprietor of the equally lovely Wisp yarn shop in Granville (that I reviewed in a December 22nd post).  

Wisp is a wonderfully inspiring shop full of beautiful yarns, British home items, and books among other treasures.  

The books are cool, vintage-style cloth-bound editions like this one, with adorable little ribbon bookmarks.  Anne-Sara was so sweet to send me this copy by one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen - thank you so much Anne-Sara!!  

Wisp is offering a special discount of 20% off the price of all red and pink yarn until Valentine's Day.  Maybe a little hint to your sweetie, that a yarn trip to Wisp might be just the thing to put a sparkle in your eye, is in order? 

 

Tonight I leave you with a favorite poem of mine. 

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening  

by Robert Frost

 Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Who's got the button?

My gray tweed cardigan is finally blocked and dry and I have to decide on just the right button.  As this is a one-button closure the right button choice can really make the sweater.

I had in mind pewter metallic or solid black, so I dug through my stash to see what I have. 

Turns out, not much that will work.  What I have on hand are some fussy, vintage black glass (totally not right for this simple style), and some carved bone brown/ black ones (a little better, but maybe too organic).   I'm totally open to ideas, so any suggestions or links appreciated. 

I'll have FO photos and a full run-down on this project once I find a great button!

 

It's always fun when a new Knitty comes out, and this Winter issue includes an interesting variety of designs with a pretty fair balance of sweaters and accessories (photos from Knitty.com).

I especially love Heather Desserud's Chrysanthemums, a Norwegian stranded mitten design, and all the other nice color work projects in this issue. 

 

 

Sock lovers will be intrigued with the architectural Maeva, by Stefanie Bold, with it's Art Deco-ish cables and ribs.  An appealing design for both men and women I think.

Winter 2011 has lots of sweaters to love including Teva Durham's lacy  Lady Lovelace cardigan and capelet set, Kathleen Dames' Turn of the Glass fitted cardigan and Karina Liu's Jacqueline collared jacket. 

Knittyspin's  simple, trendy earflap hat Southern Lights, by Christine McCormick, might be good for my husband who stands at a cold bus stop every morning.  

Speaking of spinning, so far I am making good on my goals for 2011 by spinning a little bit every week.

This 4 pound batch of natural beige Louet Coopworth roving will take me forever!  

Although beautiful, this fiber may not be completely spun and ready to knit until winter 2012...  I might have to intersperse some more lively rovings in between now and then to keep me motivated.   Goodness knows I have plenty in my stash.

Have a fun, safe weekend and as always, peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!

Let it Snow!

We don't normally get much snow in this part of the state until January or February, but this year we've already had a sugary dusting, just enough to be pretty. The snow seems to have caused a hush to settle over the woods I love to visit whenever I can.

In the quiet of the early morning it was not surprising to come across a small doe foraging among the leaves and snow for her breakfast.

 

We stood and stared at each other for a few minutes and then she bounded off into the safety of the forest.

I love to collect old buttons cut from clothes purchased at thrift stores, or found on the sewing materials tables at church rummage sales.  Some I use on sewing or knitting projects, others are made into jewelry.  

These vintage Jadeite-green glass rounds, trimmed with a hint of gilt edging, are pretty on their original card. 

The brown, carved squares below were labeled Bakelite (although I've not tested them).  Regardless of their material, I love their simple graphic quality.  They look like chocolate, mmmm.....

 

Each of these antique, molded black glass, shank rounds has a poinsettia picked out in red and gold paint, making them perfect for a special Christmas project.

Although I'm not planning to knit anything new at the moment - I have plenty of projects going to keep me busy for weeks - I've enjoyed following the Christmas Calendar patterns from Drops Design/ Garnstudio this month for a daily dose of festive knitting (and crochet!) fun (Drops photo).  

This sock design reminds me of what my Swedish grandmother used to call "Tomte."  It makes me miss her, especially at Christmas.  

It's never a bad idea to let loved ones know you care about them, you might not get another chance!

Peace, blessings and happy knitting to you.