I made something, part two
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 5:34PM I've decided to make this a three part series. Because this is my blog, and I'll divide if I want to.
It has buttons. These are not just any buttons, these are old buttons. These buttons are probably at least 40-50 years old, and came from my grandmother's large button collection. She had a stainless steel canister with a lid, probably meant to be a cookie jar in the 1950s, and she kept all her buttons in it from her sewing and knitting projects.
As a girl, I loved to sort through it, asking if my grandma recalled where each button came from. (She could tell me things like, "That came off of a coat your grandfather wore," or, "That came on a dress I bought at XYZ department store, and didn't like, so I cut them off and changed the buttons.")
People don't keep button bins anymore. But they should.
Because, who knows? Someday your granddaughter could own a yarn business and would want to knit your great-granddaughter something that will require buttons.
And who knows? Something from your cast-off dress could end up on your descendant's clothing.
Your descendants would likely think that was very cool.
I think I'll start a button bin.
More on this something I knit tomorrow.
In the meantime, can I just say? I really like the colorway Alice when it's all knit up. Alice is even better in the garment than she is in the skein:
(Alice is the blue, pink, yellow, white, and black section in the middle of this shot.)
Reader Comments (17)
My grandma use to have something similar with her buttons! I wish I had it! My grandpa (without telling the rest of the family) threw away all my grandmother's sewing stuff. All her very,very old patterns,fabric,books,notes,buttons and things she had made for my dad when he was little. I think my grandpa was angry that my grandma had Alzheimer's and didn't want to be reminded of the "good times" so he pitched it all. I have the memories though! Thanks for reminding me of one I had not thought of in a while! Can't wait to see the WHOLE something!
My mom has a button tin! (Actually, she has several, because her button collection outgrew her button tin pretty quickly, but that's another story.) Her tin is a tin that she bought when the King Tut exhibit came to the Royal Ontario Museum back in the late 70s. It's dark blue with gold and has his coffinette on it. When I was little and got bored, she'd tell me to go look through the buttons and find her a rainbow or three matching pairs or the ones that looked most like the cat's eyes. It was a good way to keep me busy.
I have a button tin. Well, two actually. I have buttons from 4 different Grandmas so far. My tins are the ones that hold those shaped Christmas cookies. One of the tins is from a grandma and the other I scrounged up to match when I ran out of room in the first tin.
Alice is also quite lovely crocheted, which isn't always the case with varigated yarns.
I have a big clear plastic jar a full of buttons. I've been adding to it for years.
I have a button tin too. I used to play with both of my grandmothers' buttons as a child and I seem to have acquired all of theirs. And my mother-in-law's button tin. I look at it as history and also as a source of inspiration.
I have just started button collecting. . . My dad got me this super cool "vintage" "Bell" jar at a flea market, it was filled with buttons, some super cool, some not so cool. I love the idea of sending my kid to find something in the button tin!
How fun :)
I typically keep buttons and toss them in my button jar too :)
My grandma had a button bin. She gave it too my mum, who started one for me. I don't have any of the cool old buttons yet. But my grandkids will consider the cool new ones that I am collecting to be old. So that's good.
I keep all buttons too, and I don't even knit. But whenever someone loses a button, I invariably have one that is a close match to replace it. They are fun to play with, too!
My grandma had a button tin just like it, complete with round, lidded canister. Mom has it now, and I hope it will someday pass to me :). I liked poking through it, and the antique spools. Those were my favorite. And who knows, maybe your grandkids will one day write things like this!
I also have a 2 buttons/sewing bins, though I don't sew much. I think it was started by my mom. They are the tins for Christmas cookies. I have 2 daughters and I plan on leaving each of them a nice collection.
My Mom had a button tin. She passed away when I was 17. My dad remarried 5 years later, and my step mom, whom I love, is the definition of anti-hoarding. She helped my dad clean out A LOT of crap from our house. Because I was so young, I did not take some of the things that my mom collected, that I now wish I had. Over the years I have collected buttons. Some from old sweaters that no longer fit me, or had worn out, from extras from new purchases etc. As a matter of fact, I finished a February Lady Sweater last fall, and used button from an LL Bean sweater that I had worn out in college. It was sentimental and rewarding to recycle and remember.....
Can't wait to see the whole thing, it already looks gorgeous!
I also have my grandmother/mother's button tin. It's a wonderful dark green and once held five pounds of butter mints. All these years later when I open it, there is still that wonderful light smell of mint that escapes from the tin. I wish that I knew the stories that went with all of the buttons, but it's nice to just have them as a piece of family history.
A sweater to make you smile!
Alice is one of my favorite colors ever. I loved it in the pictures I saw for years before I was lucky enough to see it in person and I love it in person even more. One day someone will buy the soaker skirty I made with it and the love will be passed to other people. :-))
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