Henley (sort of) Perfected

The button band just annoyed me too much. I was compelled to try to right it. After unpicking the stitching attaching the bottoms of the neckband pieces with only a few wrongly snipped pieces, it was frogged back to the buttonhole row.

Things go fuzzy after that. I remember re-doing the band, finding I still had more stitches after the buttonhole row than before it, frogging, re-doing the band, maybe doing it a third time, possibly even a fourth, definitely doing the I-cord, stitching it back together and only then realising there were seven buttons but only six buttonholes.

Whether or not I stopped counting how many times I tried to get this right out of frustration or self-preservation is moot. It was so late as to be early when I gave up, packed everything in the bag to go with us for a visit to old friends the following day and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Fortunately, with the morning came sanity clarity and I pinned the button and buttonhole sections together before using the buttons as a guide to mark where the buttonholes should go. We made a late start, during which time I re-knitted the buttonhole row so that buttons and holes were in line. When we got to our friends' place (I mentioned that they're old friends, right?) I did the last couple of rows of stocking stitch and the I-cord bind-off before putting buttons through holes, checking all was in line and finally sewing the neck edge back together.

Hoo-bloody-ray, it is done. Sadly, the sewn section is not quite as neat as before, but the button band is so much improved that it's still a better garment now.