Buttons and Birthdays

This weekend we “celebrate” the Queen’s birthday in Australia with a three-day weekend, (except Western Australia where everyone has to go to work tomorrow – sorry guys).

I put the word celebrate in inverted commas because 1 – Elizabeth II’s birthday is actually 21 April and 2 – I don’t think anyone really toasts the queen and wishes her a good one.

When I was a young-un we would have a bonfire and light fireworks, but fireworks are now illegal and I don’t live on a farm anymore so a bonfire is more likely to result in a visit from a big red truck than roasted marshmallows. If I had a bunsen burner ….  maybe not.

Instead of setting fire to things, now most Australians just enjoy the three-day weekend, drink, eat, sleep late, or (if from the Southern states), fly to Queensland to eat, drink and sleep late in the sunshine. It’s bloody cold here in Victoria.

I’m celebrating the long weekend by drinking Cabernet Sauvignon, sleeping in and playing with buttons.

Above is a small selection of my favourites.  Some of them like the china buttons with yellow roses on them are “vintage” (ie: second-hand) from op-shops. Others I bought yesterday at the local yarn shop. I don’t have an immediate use for the little blue and yellow bunches of cherries but I couldn’t resist them at 20c each.

There are two projects I have in mind that really do need buttons which is what prompted me to get out the button jar and go hunting.

They are both Ysolda Teague patterns: a caplelet called Emily and fingerless mits called Veyla. Here are the yarn/button combinations I have decided on.

For the Emily capelet I’m going to use Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre in a gorgeous, old-fashioned shade of green. I used to rent a dump of a flat in Moonee Ponds in which the only redeeming features were a bathtub and sink in this colour.

This yellow Zarina 4ply with the little china buttons is for the Veyla mits/fingerless gloves. The yellow in both the yarn and the roses painted onto the buttons is soft and gentle. Its not as insipid as the lemon yellow that is often used for baby clothes but it’s just a wonderful, lemon-curd colour.

I was thinking of going for some contrast instead by using the blue “cherries” (I don’t think they actually are cherries)…

…but they might be a bit too kitsch for the mits. The good thing is that they are just buttons – so if they don’t look right they can be taken off and replaced really easily.

And finally, I was delighted to discover that some buttons I bought 10 years ago but never used can have a new life. The first picture in this post shows the original and the disassembled version in the centre bottom of the picture.

In their original condition, these peachy coloured buttons were just a bit too daggy and big.

I couldn’t see myself ever using them. I discovered that the middle section pops out and makes a really nice button all by itself. I will have to be careful because now it’s only half of what it originally was depth-wise, the shank is quite long.

I hope to finish at least one of the Veyla mits this weekend (if I can find time between the wine, sleep and food). I’ll post a picture of the final result.