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Finishing Workshop: Buttonholes

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knit buttonholeI admit to not being much of a cardigan knitter, and I stick with pretty basic buttonholes when I do need them, either doing a decrease or a bind off for however many stitches and then casting on stitches to replace them in the next row.

It’s not elegant, but it works for my purposes.

But every time I think about buttonholes, I think about Maggie Righetti, who dedicated a whole chapter in her excellent book Knitting in Plain English to the buttonhole, called “Buttonholes are Bastards.” Her complaint is that all the common options are kind of ugly and floppy and though she offers a solution it’s rather complex and I’ve actually never tried it (shame on me!).

The common choices are the eyelet buttonhole (aka yarn over, knit 2 together), horizontal buttonholes made by binding off stitches and what’s commonly known as the one-row buttonhole, in which you bind off, turn back and cast on, then turn back and work across those stitches again, all in the same row. (Check out this video from Knitting Help if you need a visual.)

There’s a great roundup of your options at Vogue Knitting, which also has a tip for buttonhole spacing. There are lots of pictures in a tutorial from Knitty.

Do you have a buttonhole preference? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo via Knitty.]

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Comments

  1. Hi Sarah – Thanks for the great web sources for button holes. I tend to make buttonholes a couple of different ways, depending on the size of the button and the stitch pattern of the button band.

    If I just need a hole for a small button (like on a baby sweater), I usually do an eyelet buttonhole. If I need a bigger opening, I’ve usually knit a one row buttonhole. But none of mine come out as clean and lovely as the buttonhole in your photo 🙂

Have you read?

Add a Little Lace to Your Knitting Patterns

If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.