Monica Knits

The first leg warmer also had vertical buttonholes, but they were knitted along with the garment. In this case, only the first 4 rows were knitted along with the garment and then the 4 stitches of the buttonhole band were placed on a stitch holder, while the rest of the garment was knitted. This has 3 advantages, you can start the leg warmer before you decide on the buttons and button placement; you can sew the buttons on first and then fit the band to the buttons; and the start of the buttonhole band is at the same height as the buttonband, so you don't need to measure later. Read more.... for further instructions.

The image at left is the leg warmer, before the buttonhole band is completed. The image at right is a closeup showing the first 4 completed rows of the buttonhole band on a stitch holder.

Button Closure Instructions
The buttonhole band and the buttonband are started after 1" of 2 x 2 ribbed cuff are completed in the ankle-up baby cable, leg warmer. The cuff is ended on a wrong side (WS) row. The instructions are given only for the bands, not the leg warmer in this article.

1. 4 sts are cast on to the beginning of the next RS row for the buttonhole band, and 5 sts are cast on to the end for the buttonband.
2. Buttonband Row 1 (WS): sl 1 knitwise, K1, K3 ...... follow leg warmer pattern across
   Buttonband Row 2 (RS): ..................... K5
   Repeat Rows 1 & 2 until the start of the upper cuff. Cast off these 5 sts on a WS row, before beginning the cuff.
3. Buttonhole Band Row 1 (WS) ...............K4
   Buttonhole Band Row 2 (RS) P4 .........................
   Buttonhole Band Row 3 (WS) ...............K4
   Buttonhole Band Row 4 (RS) P4 (place these sts on st holder), while the rest of the leg warmer is completed.



4. After the leg warmer is knitted, sew 1"-wide gross grain ribbon to the buttonband. You can sew it either to the front or the back (here it is sewn to the front). I used a contrasting color so that you could see the work. Normally I would have used black or a matching color for this color leg warmer. I used woolly nylon to attach the ribbon.
5. Sew the buttons to the button band. For these buttons, I used DMC floss 3328 which complemented the rose color in the buttons.
6. With 4.0 mm (size 6) dpns knit the button band in seed stitch. It is a strip that is only attached to the garment at the bottom, at this point. when you think it is long enough, place the stitches on a stitch holder and cut off about 2' of yarn. Since the band curves around the buttons, the band will be a bit longer and it is easiest to knit the last part as you get to the last button.
7. Fold the leg warmer as if you were buttoning it shut. The gap will straddle the buttons. Beginning at the bottom, sew the band to the legwarmer, leaving a gap when you reach each button.