Button, button - I've got the buttons

I ducked out of work a little early today to enjoy the lingering sunny weather (that thunder-boomer I was hoping for is suppose to come tomorrow) and headed down to Ottawa Street (local textile district) to do a little button shopping.

I found some great buttons for Helena

It wasn't exactly what I had in mind - I was thinking delicate pink crystal flowers, but I couldn't find anything like that.

It think the butterflies work nicely, and though you can't see it in the picture, they do have a slightly pink tint.

I am so pleased with how this one turned out. Normally I make baby clothes and go "oh that's cute." and move on - but I can't stop staring at this one.

I don't really want to give it up and even looked at Dave this weekend and said, "Hey, wanna make a baby?" (His reply was - "You don't like babies." - which shows you just how much I like this sweater.) Of course then I spent a few hours with my brother's endearing children (both girls - one six one almost two) and that drove any desire for baby making right out the window. (Beautiful girls, but man do they have lungs!)

My love for this project is partly the pattern - Helena is a gorgeous little pattern and I've loved it since it first went up on Knitty. I am definitely going to be up-sizing it for myself.

But I think what really does it for me is mostly the yarn - I love, love, love this colourway, which I named Kaia in honour of the much anticipated recipient.(You'll see this colour in the shop soon.) This pictures do not do it justice. The green is a soft, dusky shade that has a lovely antiqued feel and the subtle pink and blue highlights give it such depth, making each stitch pop.

That's also due in part to the yarn itself. I don't like to boast, but our Fat Cat is some of the nicest DK I've ever knit with. It's soft (and not itchy), it's squooshy and gives wonderful stitch definition. It makes my mediocre knitting look so much nicer than it is. It's also perfect for children's garments because it's superwash! I don't think I'll be making any baby gifts out of acrylic ever again.This is also a fantastic, easy pattern. But, never one to colour inside the lines, I had to make a few modifications. The most obvious is that I replaced the ties with buttons, but I also opted for a picot collar and button band to match the hems. The garter stitch just looked odd to me - I'm really the kind of girl who wants collar and cuffs to match.

And, once I decided to do the picot bands, I thought the garter ridge above the lace would look odd too. So, I did a cute little picot band there too. It's hard to see in the picture, but it adds a really nice touch, and takes the femininity and delicacy of the pattern up just a notch.

The final mod was to make the sleeves longer. The pattern calls for 3/4 sleeves but I went for full length.

And, as promised, I made a pair of my Baby Janes to match.

Even on my own patterns I can't resist a mod or two.

Just to make it all co-coordinating, I changed the strap so it was picot too! (I think I'm a little picot-ed out now, thank you!)

And of course, they have matching butterfly buttons!

While I was out, I also picked up some more buttons for the stash. (Hey, there was a 50 per cent off clearance!)

The ones on top are like a mother-of-pearl and have a pink and green irridescnces. I actually got them just incase the butterflies were too small, but pink and green are my colours so I'm sure I'll have no problem finding another use for them.

The leafy ones I bought just because they were so pretty and if they weren't 50 per cent off, I never would have indulged.

Though Mom has hinted about how lovely they would look on her yet-to-be knit Tea Leaves cardigan. She bought some lovely Madeline Tosh Vintage in Rosewood (a gorgeous brown with pink highlights) and I have to admit, they would be a pretty good match.

And, with all the yarn I snag from her stash, I really can't say no can I? (but of course, she has to actually get off the Ravelry swap groups and knit something... hint... hint...)

In addition to buttons I got a great deal on blanket binding, so look for a Kaia's baby quilt soon - hopefully next weekend!

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Almost forgot - Mom got into the dye without me (can't leave her alone for a minute!) and created some beautiful new colourways which are up in the shop now. Feel free to browse and buy whatever you want... except Green Eyed Lady - that one is MINE!