Buttons of Miscellany

A friend of mine had a grandmother who collected buttons, which were squirrelled away over the years, snipped off shirts and sweaters that were outgrown or headed for the rag pile. One night when she was visiting Toronto, we had a couple of martinis and she told me about them. How old they were, how pretty, and how she couldn't' bear to give them to goodwill. "I'll take them!" I said. "I always need buttons."

So.... she sent them to me. Along with some yarn as wedding present (How awesome is getting yarn for a wedding present?! Hooray!!)

 This in an incredible amount of buttons, people. And these are just the ones in the 'white buttons' bag.  Now look closer- I've flipped them over so you can see their backs in the second shot. Do you see what I see?

They are shells. the vast majority of these white buttons are made from a white and pink shell. I want to say they look like conch, but I'm not sure. I'm not up on my shell nomenclature.They have this substantial weight to them, you can tell right away they aren't plastic. And then there was another giant lot of coloured buttons, all shapes and sizes. I've taken a few shots of my favourites:

I can't wait to use them!! I foresee a lot of button embellished projects in the future....

Erica and I went to Tango Palace Coffee Company recently. It's my new favourite coffee joint!! Tonnes of bakery goodies, nice and cozy, unhurried atmosphere, and only a few doors down from The Purple Purl. If Erica hadn't totally called me out on exploring somewhere new, I might never know how great Tango Palace was. They have a hot chocolate menu that rivals a starbucks coffee menu. That's pretty fantastic in my world.

 Here's Erica knitting away at the collar of her cabled seed stitch cardigan- it's already gorgeous, and it isn't even off the needles yet!

Tomorrow I fly out to Chicago, to visit Eliza and have a weekend getaway in the Windy City. Report to follow!!

FO: Felix Baby Cardi and Apple Cozy

Pattern: Silly Apple Cozy Yarn: stash red acrylic and stash green merino Needles: 5 mm dpns, and 3.5 mm needles for the leaf Mods: made the cozy much smaller than the original pattern called for- I don't buy gigantic apples that often. Also added a leaf from this pattern. Notes: I love this little apple cozy, it's a pretty hygienic way to transport an apple that I would typically just toss into my purse for a snack at work. I added a little leaf by the button, because for some unknown reason, I felt utterly compelled to have an apple cozy look just like an apple. But yet I have no sound argument as to why I did that. Hmm. A little armchair psychology, anyone? Pattern: Felix's Cardigan Yarn: stash, I believe an acrylic/cotton blend from Paton's. 2 Skeins. Needles: 5 mm Mods: went up a needle size to make this a bit bigger. Notes: The cardigan patterns was a simple top down construction, which was great. I think it's safe to say that the awesome robot buttons make this sweater. I got them on Etsy.com, from Buttered Parsnips. I love her buttons!! I'll be buying more for future kid knits, for sure. I found it really hard to find great buttons for boy knits, abut she has lots of great designs. How cute are they?!