Letters
Daytripper Cardigan: Button Time!
Dear Kay,
We had a cold snap over the weekend—Nashville was downright clammy. In other words, LOPI WEATHER. It was just what I needed to get done with the final bits of Mary Jane Mucklestone’s Daytripper Cardigan from Field Guide No. 17: Lopi.
I did what I always do when making a cardigan: I saved the button-picking until I was completely finished. It’s my little reward, getting to think about buttons.
The thing is, I always get the same basic kind of button: shell buttons. They’re the buttons that just make sense to me.
I went online and found myself awash in shell buttons, adrift I tell you. I ordered up a dozen lustrous little discs, lovely and thin.
Too pale. But when I flipped them over, the akoya oyster shell on the back side of the mother of pearl was really beautiful, with no luster, no iridescence. An Icelandic sheep would be good friends with an akoya oyster, surely.
I like the idea of these humble bivalves getting a moment in the sun, or my button band, anyway.
A fine mate to my Daytripper’s palette of Léttlopi in Oatmeal, Dark Grey, Ash, Air Blue, Pink, and Crimson Red.
Field Trip
And when we took Daytripper out for a walk on a cool late spring day, it was time for a proof-of-finishing photo.
Love,
Ann
How wonderful to take a walk with fambly around you. Such a simple thing taken for granted in the Before Times. I love your button choice. My next project will be a cabled cardi made from Harrisville Daybreak cormo wool and I am giddy — giddy, I tell you! — thinking about button choices.
Beautiful!!! And if the pandemic taught us anything it is to appreciate those precious times with our grown children and all those we love. Thank you for sharing his wonderful pics. It got my day off to a great start. ❤️
My, has your boy grown since the books! You guys are so cute!
I had the same thought. Also is this hubbo’s debut??? You all are beautiful.
Such a delight to see you all together!!! My equally tall son arrives tomorrow for his 40th birthday weekend.
You look beautiful! The cardigan and your buttons are perfect.
As to buttons, I “inherited” (saved from being thrown out) my grandmother’s button box. It is a treasure I’ve added to over the years, buying buttons just because I love them! When I need some for a finished project, there are always some waiting…
It’s heartwarming to see you with your lovely son! Your Daytripper is gorgeous, buttons are perfect, sun is shining. I’m just casting mine on, being an afterthought (late!) person, but boosted to be doing it in colors similar to yours. Thanks!
The perfect buttons. How lovely to see you and Clif reunited too <3.
Happy B-Day to Clif! And the joy exuding in every photo does look like you were part of that greater chewing gum commercial ever (which made me laugh and get tears at the same time).
Sweet.
What a thrill to have him back! Love that pop of bright fuschia pink in your Daytripper. That akoya oyster and your sweater look like they are made for each other. Thank you for letting us in on your button hunt, Ann. So fun.
I’m so happy for you! I will be going to see my daughter in 22 days that I haven’t seen in almost 2 years with A plane ticket from a year ago March!
On a lighter note, that guy holding onto his tp!!!
The son is arriving Sunday from Seattle—22 months! I feel your joy.
thank you for sharing the joy of sons and buttons.
Ann, your daytripper is beautiful. Clif and you are definitely son and Mom. You both have a super smile!!
Awwwww! What a great post! So happy to see you together.
Ps. Sweater looks great too.
Happy happy birthday Clif! Welcome home! Beautiful pictures!!
So darn cute!!
LOVE seeing your family! Congrats. I also saw two of my four kids ( and come grandkids) for the first time in 16 months last weekend. Oh, the joy!! And I adore your new sweater and fantastic buttons choice. Happy Happy!
A lovely story about a lovely day.
Love to see the reunions that are taking place.
In another direction, where does one SELL unusual buttons? I inherited a ton ( no exaggeration ) of vintage wooden and plastic and shell and who knows what else, buttons from the 1940s when I bought a yarn shop back in the 80’s. I have been selling them on ebay and etsy and by contacting button shops (try to find them). We also tried going to small clothing manufacturing companies in NYC (we didn’t have enough buttons for them) and to hand weaving and knitting companies (too many buttons for them). so wherever else can we go before the upper floor in our barn collapses.
Dusty’s Vintage Buttons (web reference escapes me atm) would be delighted to have them.
Email me your contact information. One of my husband’s tennis partners owns Sewfistacted Fabrics in the Boston area. We will pass along the button opportunity. pattydew2003@yahoo.com
The cardigan looks great! And, Clif is a great photographer. He took an arrival from a distant planet, and made it look like she just got here! (Happy B-day Clif!)
Lovely heartwarming post, just what I needed to start my day! Love the photo of you in your sweater
Your son is a gift treasure the time you spend with him
Beautiful picture of you and your son’s beaming faces. Happy birthday to Clif. This warms my heart to see such joy-filled and wonderful family reunions. And I too am on a button search. Where would I find these akoya oyster shell buttons?
That last picture made me tear up, just a little. My button tradition is (more often than not) to choose the wrong buttons half-way through the sweater, and then to choose again when I’m finished. Lately I have been forcing myself to wait. Somehow I only think I know what the sweater needs before it’s finished.
❤️ I loved that.
How wonderful for you to see your son. And on his birthday!
Happy Birthday, CLIF!
Those are also my favorite buttons. For everything. They are perfect for the sweater. Wear it well.
Enjoy your family.
Lots of hearts for this post.
thank you!
Fantastic commercial, and hugs to you and yours!!!!
You look gorgeous in that cardigan.
In NYC in the 70s there was an amazing button shop near Bloomingdales. I spent many happy hours selecting the perfect buttons for my knitting and sewing projects. Many of those projects didn’t withstand the test of time, but I still have the buttons.
Tender Buttons! It lasted a long time but now it is gone…
I can’t believe it’s gone!! I loved that shop, even though the guy was sometimes grumpy. Last time I went I bought buttons for the ages, so I have a little collection, for cardigans. How sad.
Loved the proud Mama photo!!!
This post was wonderful on so many levels! I just spent a weekend with my nephew after well over a year, and it was definitely a grin fest.
And I thought I was the only one who turned buttons over because the ‘wrong’ side matched better! Nothing more fun than rootling around for the perfect buttons…
Your lad is a tall one! Lovely buttons
Nice to see you with (most) your family. Made me tear up thinking of mine. Could you let us know where you found your buttons? They seem perfect to me.
Wonderful to hear about your reunion with your son and to see the happy family photo. Oh yes, and the cardigan is lovely. Perfect choice in buttons.
Your letter brought so much joy beyond knitting! Enjoy time with your family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, baby boy!!!
Love the knit, Love the buttons
What a great idea, to flip a shell button over and use the back side.
Delightful sweater, delightful photos! We’re about 2 hours south of you, and yes, it was nippy. Hoodies had to be purchased for visiting grandsons, who, coming from Atlanta in almost June, didn’t think they needed them. Any time spent with family is precious, even doing the simple things.
Happy birthday to Clif! Happy button day to your Daytripper! Happiness abounds.
You look so happy! Beautiful sweater. I flip the shell buttons also. ❤️
Your son is a wonderful fashion photographer! I would never think to pose a picture like that.
And thank you so much for the chewing gum ad, I laughed out loud.
Happy birthday to your Clif, and I know a happy day for you and his dad. Question – how tall IS he?!
OH, and the cardigan is absolutely gorgeous.
I’d love to get some suggestions of where to shop online for buttons. It’s the kind of thing I’d really like to shop in person, but there are not many local places anymore that carry an interesting selection.
May not be an in-person opportunity, but see the post above from Laurene. I bet many Etsy and eBay shops are good sources. If you are in NYC, there are a number of shops in the garment district just for buttons. Also someone used to sell vintage buttons in one of the flea markets here—possibly (?) the one in the school on Columbus Ave. just down from the Museum of Natural History.
I *used to* come to NY all the time for work, and walk through the garment district to get from my hotel to office. Bought more ribbon than I could ever know how to use. But now that I need buttons, travel to NY is still on hold. SIgh – can’t wait to come back.
❤️ we just saw our youngest for the first time since Dec 2019 so your post touched me. And the sweater is gorgeous. Thanks for brightening my day
Absolutely lovely.
The sweater, too.
You look so lovely — and so does your cardigan! Enjoy every moment of this long-awaited visit.
Beautiful family, beautiful sweater, beautiful buttons. A knitter’s day doesn’t get much better than that!
Did you ever read Catherine Newman’s book Catastrophic Happiness: Finding Joy in Childhood’s Messy Years? There is an achingly tender quote in it that I love.
“I had not pictured adulthood as the crazy derangement of joy and sadness that it’s turning out to be. The children are lost to us over and over again, their baby selves smiling at us from photo albums like melancholy little ghosts of parenthood past. Where are those babies? They are here and not here. I want to remember the feel of a warm little hand in mine, or the damp, silky weight of a naked kid in my arms straight out of the bath. When I prop Birdy on my hip, she still slings a little arm around my shoulder, jaunty as a boyfriend—but she’s so heavy. The kids grow and grow, they grow right out the door! Like creatures in a Dr. Seuss book about people you love and love and then they move out and leave you and go to college like jerks, marry other people and refuse to live at home with you who love them so much, who loved them first.”
Wow, that says it all, Laura. What a perfect quote. Thank you for this.
A lovely read and sweet photos. Enjoy.
Aw, happy family mostly all together!
That commercial made me laugh for so many reasons. Not the least of which was hearing that song again, as well it’s juxtaposition with an obviously current world view. How do you find these gems?
Ann, i am so so happy for you that you got to hug that baby of yours at the airport! No matter how tall that baby is! What a special day. I love your cardi and your buttons. ❤️
I love everything about this post. And I’ve shared that video to my FB page and emailed it to two old friends I’m planning to meet IN PERSON today for the first time since February 2020.
Part way through my Letlopi I abandoned it for more portable socks to fly across the country to see my daughter. I selfishly played the mom card to visit her at a time of her break-up crisis. Any excuse after 18 months!