How To: Do knitting techniques spacing & marking buttonholes

Watch this knitting instructional video on spacing and marking buttonholes for knitting projects. This knitting demonstration uses the swatch of a right sweater front to show an easy way to mark the placement of buttonholes on your knitted material. Lily Chin attributes the method to Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations. You wil be working the button bands from the right side, from the bottom up, so you'll be marking the placement of the bottom of each buttonhole. If this was a boy's or man's knitted sweater, you'd be working the buttonholes on the left side, from the top down, so you'd be marking the placement of the top of each buttonhole. The knitting technique is the same, and can also be used for sewing projects.

Start with an ordinary piece of dressmaker's elastic. Use a ruler or yard stick to mark 1" or 2" increments along the length of the elastic.

Now, place the top of the elastic where the first buttonhole will be. Count down the number of marks for additional buttonholes needed. Stretch the elastic until the last mark needed is where the bottom buttonhole will be. Place a pin or stitch marker at the top and bottom, and at each tick mark along the way. You now have evenly spaced markers for your buttonholes.

When you pick up stitches along the front edge, you can transfer the markers to the appropriate stitches and make minor adjustments to assure that there are the same number of stitches between each marker.

Hope this knitting tutorial video helps with your future spacing & marking buttonholes knitting projects.