Knitting a Button Loop
When using large buttons on a piece of knitting, you may choose to make a button loop instead of a buttonhole. Knitted buttonholes require you to bind off stitches in one row and cast them on again in the next, making them part of the knitted piece. Button loops, on the other hand, are added to the edge of the piece after you bind off. The loops themselves are not actually knitted; you make them with yarn and a darning needle rather than knitting needles.
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Instructions
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1
Cut a 24-inch strand of yarn with scissors. Thread the yarn through a darning needle and fold it in half, as you would when threading a sewing needle. Tie an overhand knot at the end and trim off any excess yarn below the knot.
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2
Sew through the back side of your knitting at the point where you want the top of the button loop to be. Work just inside the selvedge edge, as you would if you were picking up knit stitches. Pull the needle until the knot is snug against the back of the work.
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3
Sew through the back side of your knitting at the point where you want the bottom of the button loop to be. Insert your finger (or fingers, depending on the size of the button) under the yarn as you pull the needle through to the front. This will create the loop shape.
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4
Secure the yarn to the top of the loop again by sewing through the initial stitch from front to back. You now have a double arch of yarn.
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5
Sew under both button loop arches from back to front. Pull the yarn almost all the way taut. Just before you tighten the new stitch, sew back through the loop you just made. You are pulling the new stitch through itself.
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6
Push the stitch down toward the top edge of the button loop.
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7
Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the button loop arches are full of knots, one next to the other. It should look like a column of stockinette stitches, or like a crochet chain.
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8
Finish the button loop by sewing through the last stitch to make a knot on the back side of your knitting. This is the same technique you use when ending a hand-sewn stitch made with thread. Cut the yarn, leaving a two-stranded, 2-inch tail. Thread the tail through the darning needle and weave it in as you would a cast-on or bind-off yarn tail.
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