I have never seen button strips before. I have a couple of questions. Is the button strip just to sew the buttons onto? Do you sew them on the wrong side of the garment?? What is the purpose of knitting with a different color and what do I iron and then what does it mean to “unknit” them for assembling to retrieve the original color?? (ps. they do the same thing with a neckline strip but if I figure out the button strips, I am hopeful that I will figure out the neckline strip). I should mention this is a french baby cape pattern translated into English.
Button Strip:
Cast on 60 (64)st
Knit 1,5cm (7 rows) in 2/2 ribs beginning and ending the 1st row and every odd row (right side of work)
with k3.
Then purl all st ( row 10 wrong side of work) and knit a few other ST rows with another color
Iron these rows. You’ll just have to unknit them for assembling to retrieve the original color
Knit a second Button Strip.
Sew the button strips, aligning two 3 rows buttonholes with the buttonholes made on the right side of
the cape
I’ve never seen a button “strip”. Button bands, yes, but not a strip. It may be a translation thing. Do you have a link to the pattern, which hopefully has a picture?
Hi Charlotte
Here is the pic. Unfortunately the link only shows the pic. Can I email you the pattern? Not exactly sure how to do manage this…maybe you know.
What a precious capelet pattern for your little gray elf!
Give me a few minutes to Let me look at the picture and compare with your instructions. It would be best if you didn’t send the whole pattern due to copyrights. Does the pattern say to what and where the strip attaches?
Welcome to KH!
Parts of this are a bit of a puzzle, aren’t they? Basically, it sounds like the button strip is the edging along the left side of the cape. I don’t know why you would turn the edge with a purl row and then add the contrast color, only to remove the contrast color later. You could eliminate the turn row and bind off in the ribbing or you could do the turn row and continue in stockinette stitch in the original color for a facing on the ribbed edge. You would have to block that and the ribbing (and maybe that’s what the “ironing” is describing).
The second button strip or ribbed edging goes on the right side of the cape.
It certainly is an adorable pattern.
It almost sounded like they are using those contrast color stitches as is done in machine knitting to achieve a provisional cast on that can be grafted to the front. By unravelling the contrast rows you have live stitches to graft. Either that or as a teensy knitted bias strip…
My goodness, cryptic aren’t they? I’d have to agree with salmonmac that they’re an edging. The question is how to sew the button strips. I’d say an experiment is in order. A swatch with the buttonholes worked as in the pattern, and another same sized swatch of button strip may help you see how the designer intended them to be sewn together, and perhaps figure out a different way if you don’t like what you first tried.
I agree and I like the idea of testing out how ths will work out with a swatch or two. What do you think about picking up sts along the edges and knitting the ribbed bands out from the picked up stitches? This could work at the front bands and at the neck.
