Yarn Along 2015.19: The Button Dilemma

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Time to join in with Ginny's Yarn Along to see what sorts of knitting/crocheting and reading are going on in the world.

I alllllllmmmmooooosssssttttt finished my Barn Sweater.  I really, really, thought I was going to have a 100% complete sweater to show off today.

I got the sleeves sewn.

I got the pocket linings sewn down.

how it looks on the inside

how it looks on the outside

Then, I went to retrieve the buttons I'd been planning to use. . . Some lovely buttons made from deer antlers that an internet friend in Minnesota had sent to me last year.  I figured they would be perfect for my sweater.  Rugged. Unique. Earthy.  Kinda how I see myself.

What I didn't figure is how much thicker they are than regular buttons.  Cannot get them through the button holes even though the diameter of the button is the size the pattern calls for.  No way, no how.  Just cannot shove them through.

just too thick :0(

Well shit  (oops, can't say that) crap  (can't say that word either, according to K3) manure.  OH MANURE!!  I can't make these buttons work.  Can't make the buttonholes bigger.  Can't make the antler buttons thinner.  I'm not going to be able to use my cool, rugged, unique, earthy buttons for this sweater.

Bummed out, I went through my jars and baggies of loose buttons I've scavenged from old clothing, leftover buttons from sewing projects, garage sales, Goodwill, etc, through the years, looking for buttons of the right size and a natural color to substitute for my antler buttons.  Thought I'd hit the [close enough] jackpot when I found several tortoiseshell looking plastic buttons.  Until I counted and found I had only five tortoiseshell buttons that matched. The sweater has seven button holes.

ARGH!  OH MANURE!

So, my sweater is, still, not finished.  Honestly, at this point (and unsuccessfully checking locally for some suitable buttons), I'm tempted to get online and indulge myself in some handmade buttons off etsy or somewhere similar.  Not worry about getting buttons in hand in the next few days so I can, finally, next Wednesday talk about a finished Barn Sweater; but instead take my time, get buttons that speak to me (colored plastic or fake metal patina just aren't doing it for me, not for this sweater), and finish the Barn Sweater whenever I happen to procure the perfect buttons.

Meanwhile, to take my mind off of my sweater button disappointment, I've been  reading The War of the Wives, which I picked up from the library on a whim, also been putting together a 1000 piece puzzle, and cast on for a pair of Zigzagular socks using Mountain Girl Yarn's lovely 4-ply fingering Merino in Moose Drool.  These are selfish socks, LOL, a pair just for me, using yarn I purchased several months ago (again, for me) along with another skein of MGY yarn--in the colorway Oslo.  There's a story to why I bought the Moose Drool yarn.  But that will have to wait until next Wednesday.

Oslo and Moose Drool