I finished my sweater and sewed on the buttons but I am not satisfied with the way it looks. I put a stay button on the back so it would not pull thru. I have a shank button for the outside and I put the yarn thru it and then put the yarn thru the stay button and then I crossed the ends over like you would tie your shoes. I crossed twice to make a knot and then cut real close to the knot. When I pulled on it the knots came undone. So I did it again and this time not cutting so close to the knot. But I don’t like the look of the ends sticking out. Any suggestions? Thread would just pull thru so I used the yarn only pulling one ply out. Is there a neat and secure way of doing it? I have to sew buttons on the baby sweater I am doing now so I want to make sure when the mom to be receives the sweater it wont loose the buttons in the wash. :oops:
How are you knotting it? When I sew on buttons with yarn, I tie the beginning end and the finish end together in a square knot, and it holds up well in the wash. Using a traditional knot-at-beginning/knot-at-end technique doesn’t usually work well with knitting, because the fabric stretches.
I start in the back with no knot in the yarn, go up thru the stay button, thru the shank button, back down thru the stay button. Now I have two ends with no knot in them. I take the two ends and cross them like you would you shoes and then cross them again, pull and cut the extra off. What is a square knot?
how to tie a square knot…
Square knot is right end over left, then left end over right. If you’re like me, for most things you’ll do right over left, right over left, which is a granny knot, and will slip.
By golly, I have been doing a granny knot! :oops: After you tie in the knot do you cut real close? And if you do what about those ugly ends sticking out? What do you do with those?
Actually, I usually leave the little ends. If possible, I weave them in using duplicate stitch. If not, :shrug: oh, well–it’s on the inside, anyway. Cutting too close can lead to the knot eventually wiggling undone, but that square knot should be way more secure than what you’ve been doing! 
Thank you 