BUTTON UP FOR A CAUSE

http://www.buttonmad.com/Site/Catalogue/Catalogue%20Page1.htm

Someone just directed me toward a site that sells fantastic buttons all handmade by women in Africa. Such a small thing, a button. But, such a huge way to support an artisan anywhere in the world with the purchase of his/her handmade items.

To this end, I’m going to begin collecting and posting information about similar sites on this blog. IF YOU are aware of a site that would support an artistan/artist/crafter in a ‘fair market’ way, please be sure to post a link to the site or shop here.

Since I’m a small business owner, I try to support other small business owners rather than having all my dollars go to the big box retailers. This can’t always be done on a practical level, but I have discovered that it’s usually worth the few extra pennies or bucks I might spend to keep good businesses local and to maintain the huge amount of expertise in all crafts/arts that will be lost if we spend all our money at the big box stores.

So, join me in this. Doesn’t matter if you’ve actually dealt with the business yourself, but it does matter that you have good reason to believe it’s on the ‘up and up’ and that the majority of money will return to the artisan rather than to some intermediary.

On this site, there are literally hundreds of buttons to chose from. Here is a sample:

Best of all, these buttons are available at MY favorite LYS (Hearthstone Knits). You can check the website for a retailer (or wholesaler) near you.

Here are some more buttons that are stunning. I love that they’re made from fallen trees rather than from the destruction of living trees.

http://www.ecobutterfly.com/catalog/Natural_Buttons-7-1.html

At the Ecobutterfly.com site there’s a section on beads. I’ve purchased a bunch of glass beads in India. As far as I know, they’re all authentic. This site tells you the questions to ask when purchasing ‘fair market’ beads to determine that you’re getting the real thing.

Another business benefits the children of mothers with AIDS.

http://www.injabulo.com/acatalog/Beads_from_Mothers_for_All.html

You can find more resources online that will use your dollars to benefit artisans all over the world. After all, when you pour your energy and money into your one of a kind crocheted project, it may well be worthy of a special button.

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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