buttons, buttons, buttons

Every morning this week Dee Jr. has assisted me on The Great Button Hunt. He is patient, has a good eye, and has no problem inquiring, "What were you thinking?" when I'd select a button a little 'off the wall.' I like that in an assistant! :)

We went to a local quilt shop figuring since they sell fabric they must sell buttons. Nope. They specialize in quilting, not in sewing. ((sounds like a yarn shop that specializes in knitting, excluding crochet. ahem, I'm just saying)) They had maybe 5 buttons.

We went to our local Joanns. They had two walls filled with buttons, and many were on clearance. Yes, I did adopt many, but sadly none that exclaimed "This is the one!" for my project.

I was offered some online shops to try ... but without seeing the button/closure against the work it is difficult to decide...

So we went to a local fabric shop that also sells yarn. Although there were many buttons, I didn't buy anything there. (although there was a hank of yarn there I wouldn't mind adopting...)

Maybe I'm being too picky. I decided, for now, I'll use the buttons I purchased at Nancy O's. However, since I am not 100% sure this is the route I want to take, I don't want to sew the buttons to the work. To get around this I decided to create closures like I did for Gloria's shawl. This meant I had to find matching beads, and this would mean another hunt.

I went to a fairly new bead shop in the area. Although the only employee there did not speak English, we eventually were able to communicate what I was looking for and wonderfully she had just the right beads! Yes!

I came home and created four closures. The open stitch work will allow me to insert the closures anywhere I'd like, and as many as I'd like to use, at a given time. And, since my project was already completed, meaning it was too late to crochet the 'Signet' Nancy O gave to me into my work, I decided to add it to one of the closures. (pictured)

My signet is a dragonfly. Some say the dragonfly is symbolic for change, and being OK with that change; this site has more info on the dragonfly symbolism. Interestingly enough, this is the second time I've chosen a dragonfly to be a part of my crochet work -- and to think all this time I thought I was a fan of giraffes!