Walking the Stitches East market last week was like being in a beautiful dream of yarns and books and tools. Several farms and cottage industries had booths, with yarn spun from their flocks, and often hand-dyed. I saw loopy bouclé mohair galore, which can only mean that it is on its way back into fashion.
Then I rounded a corner, and one booth shone like a beacon. I went toward the light. I found heavenly buttons–colorful, sparkly, shiny, crazy buttons. They were all hand-made by Gail Hughes, at her studio in Kentucky.
Gail saw the black and pink poncho draped over my arm. We agreed that we are on the same bold color wavelength. “I can’t seem to get these buttons loud enough,” she said, pointing to a rack of wild polka-dotted buttons.
I bought two Crazy Cards (right and left in the photo), which feature more than one kind of button on a card. Four-year-old Ella already claimed the pink buttons from the card on the right. “I’m going to string them, Mama,” she said. Eva loved the green one, as I knew she would.
The black and glittery buttons (middle) to put on a brown sweater I hope to knit this fall.
All of Gail’s buttons are made of epoxy resin. Many of them are joyfully colorful. Others have scraps of iridescent paper, sparkly material, beads, and glitter embedded in them. I loved this one with its shreds of copper and green sparkly swirls. It measures about 1½ x 1¾ inches.
Gail normally sells to shop owners at wholesale shows. She’ll be back at Stitches East next year (November 6-9, 2008). If you can’t wait until then to buy some of Gail’s buttons, talk to your local yarn shop about ordering a line of buttons from Gail.