Nadina’s Free online knitting patterns

I can tell you it’s not so easy to sew on buttons, especially with some of the interesting buttons you can get today!
You dont want the buttons you sew on a cardigan to look loose and dangly…Sometimes the chosen buttons can be too heavy for the knitted fabric. (This is fairly common with heavy pewter or other relatively heavy metal buttons.) The easiest way I’ve found around it is to sew on a smaller “backing button” along with the main button, but on the back of the buttonband. This goes a long way to stabilize the flopping button, and also keeps the knitted fabric more stable. The backing button can be an inexpensive plastic button that matches the buttonband color as closely as possible.

SO: Reinforcing with a clear plastic button (on the buttonband’s wrong side) will help prevent your knitting from stretching out when you wear your sweater buttoned.

This is especially helpful with soft, less stretchy yarns like cashmere and alpaca.

There is a stitch called “Mattress Stitch”. You use a yarn needle threaded with the yarn used in knitting the garment, put the two RIGHT SIDE pieces together. Hold the sides together with a stitch at the bottom, then pick up one or two bars (the bar between the stitches) on the left side, move to the right side and pick up one or two bars go back to the left side and pick up one or two more bars, do this a few times, and then pull gently on the yarn to tighten the stitches. The seam will be on the inside, and it will be difficult to see the join on the right side. When you put the two right sides together, put them side by side, not “together” you are weaving back and forth more than anything…then steam the seams with the iron and it will flattened out nicely.
I find this method much better than the back stitch or overcast.

Oh yeah. You never stop ripping no matter how good you THINK you are. I’ve been ripping out  for too many years. I almost never take the work off the needles unless the mistake is so egregious, I have no choice. But when I do rip each stitch out, rather than pull the yarn out of the old stitch each time, I do an entire row (round) and then gently pull the ripped yarn.
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I never block garments made of acrylic yarn. Acrylics are plastics. Plastic has no memory-unless you apply too much heat, in which case acrylic yarn will melt. Follow the manufacturer’s directions, i.e., throw it in the wash and then dry it on low for a few minutes.( Whenever I wash a garment in the machine, no matter the fiber, I turn it inside out which decreases pilling)
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