buttons of doom

It turns out that there are only three of these buttons in my box. Horrors! I have been knitting this cardigan with the thought of these buttons, and the distinct impression that I actually possessed five. . . Yes, I know I should have had a look beforehand. . . but there were certainly five at one time – I bought them a decade or so ago, when they were used to smarten up a rather plain green jacket. The jacket is long gone, and there are now only three buttons in the box . . . where their missing compatriots are is anybody’s guess. The buttons came from Duttons in York, whose stock is both extensive and long-standing. It would not be that unusual for them to still have a button or two that had first been bought ten years ago, so I emailed them to ask on the offchance. And Duttons do, in fact, still have two buttons of exactly the same silver and green enamel design, but only in the 1.5cm size (these are 2cm). So it was back to the button box. I certainly have an awful lot of buttons, and an obvious preference for what one might term novelty items. . .

(I actually find the fishbowls quite pleasing, but must resist. . . this is not a novelty sort of garment).

Though my box contains birds, hedgehogs, bees, foxes, roller skates, and a small lone wooden giraffe, it has nothing that is even remotely suitable for this cardigan, so I now have a buttonless garment happily blocking on the dress form. Vintage glass buttons might be nice, but now I just have to find them . . .