Billy Buttons!

A few weeks ago was Erin's birthday. She really likes billy buttons and I'd seen these on a blog so I thought I'd like to make some. Thankfully, my very talented housemate Merryn, figured out the pattern and I set to work, crocheting them while listening to the talks at ReachOut.

The next step was to fill them and attach them to sticks. I had walk with Erin one day that week was feeling frustrated that I couldn't pick up all the good sticks I was seeing, but it didn't take too long another day that week. I found that the best way to stuff them was to wrap a tiny bit of wadding around the stick, put it inside and then crochet the last two rows of the ball. Then I just tied some tight knots around the stick and hoped they would stay on!

Here are a the first few.

I tried to get a range of heigts so the group looked balanced in the bottle.

I was so pleased with how they turned out and Erin loved them too. We got to have an early morning coffee together first thing, which was special. I think the texture of the crochet even looks a lot like the natural ones. I also love the way the natural sticks are different and interesting. I think I'll be making more!