We've all got sweaters that we love, that we wear all the time and inevitably they get holes.  Instead of just accepting the holes or worse, getting rid of the sweater, try your hand at mending.  Using the simple buttonhole stitch it's easy to make your sweaters whole again.  You can choose yarn that matches your sweater color for an invisible mend or go bold and chose a contrasting color and spice your wardrobe up.

Follow along with the video below to get a grasp on the buttonhole stitch.  It might be easiest to practice the stitch a few times along a straight edge (just like we demonstrate).

Once you've got a hang of the buttonhole stitch move on to using it to mend your sweater.  As always start with a sharp needle and your choice of yarn color.  Use the running stitch to outline the hole.  This helps to strengthen the fabric around the hole as well as give you some definition and guidance for the mend. Start the buttonhole stitch by drawing your needle up near where the running stitch outline is.  Treat the hole as the straight edge that you practiced on.  Follow along the outline of the hole so that the looped yarn forms an edge along the inside of the hole. You can mend the hole just like that or you can go further and fill the hole in or you can turn your mended hole into a flower or firework using either the running or a daisy chain stitch. Get creative and most importantly have fun!!!

 Next let's deal with stains.