As I’m nearing the end of a project I’m usually quite eager to get onto the next new shiny, and already eyeing up and possibly winding the yarn for the next project.
When it’s time to do the finishing touches I have been known to leave the nearly finished wip in a corner somewhere trying to pretend it doesn’t exist, so anything that makes this finishing step quicker or easier makes me a very happy girl!
There are some great tips floating around that make it easier to ensure your buttons are lined up properly with your buttonholes but the method I’ve found recently takes away all the guessing and re-counting. Yay!
What to do
When it’s time to knit a buttonhole row I take a removable stitch marker and place it around the 3rd or 4th stitch (depending on how far in your buttonhole is designed to go) and then knit across before creating your buttonhole. This way, once I’m done, I just go through one at a time and replace the stitch markers with buttons. (You could, of course, do this the other way around if you need to knit your buttonhole at the beginning of the row!)
Extra special bonus point! With the removable stitch markers in place while you knit it means easier trying on because you can treat the stitch markers like buttons, pulling them through the buttonholes to hold the cardi shut.