Dorset Buttons

First of all, I apologize for the long delay.  I unfortunately hit a bit of a snag in my employment situation shortly after returning from vacation which led to a less than productive summer... at least on the blogging front.  You would think that not having to spend eight hours a day lawyering would be beneficial to my sewing/blogging interests but oddly you would be wrong.  I apparently am much more productive when my time is restricted by a structured life environment... who knew?  (Happily though, I did catch up on my watching tv and surfing blogs in my pajamas with the cat duties...)

Second of all, DORSET BUTTONS!  So you have no idea how excited I was to visit a lovely part of a foreign country and learn a craft with a long history in that region.  So to begin... here is Dorset:

 

Pretty, yes?  This is actually my gentleman friend's parents' back garden.  Oddly it is also the background photo on my mother's iPhone.  She has neither been to England nor met these people, yet she is enamoured with thier yard.  That is how pretty this countryside is...

 

So to begin a Dorset button you start with a curtain ring.  (Apparently they originally made the rings out of the sheep's horns? There are a lot of sheep in England.)  You cover said ring with yarn using a basic blanket stitch.

 



 Then you create spokes with your yarn and begin weaving in and out.  There a many possible patterns but I am a mere beginner and not overly creative, so I kept to the basics...

 

For this version I did a knot around each of the spokes as I wove.  I made a few more in a smaller size as well to use on a sweater that I intend to finish someday...

 

 

Now, those who know what they are doing, can make any number of beautiful patterns.  I however, have not reached that degree of talent...yet!