Safety is in the EYE of the Beholder

As you may have noticed, I’m a big fan of buttons.  I like big buttons, small buttons, wooden buttons, and long buttons.  I like every type of button….but mostly I like safe buttons.

Since I just introduced the Easter Challenge, where we’re all competing (in a super friendly way of course!) to create the most adorable, creative, or funny amigurami animal, it strikes me as a really good time to address the issue of putting button eyes onto knit and crochet projects.

There’s just something so endearing about an adorable animal hat or a knit or crochet stuffed animal.  Buttons used as eyes can make a super adorable addition.  In fact, most of my animal designs feature buttons of various sizes to help add that perfect eye-ball touch.

Here’s the thing though….the babies you see in the photos of my projects are absolutely NEVER left unsupervised while wearing or snuggling a project that features buttons.  I’m a firm believer that if baby is going to be left alone with a knit or crochet project, then buttons simply aren’t the best way to go.  There’s no getting around the fact that if a button gets ripped off a project, it presents a very real and very dangerous choking hazard.

Luckily, there are a couple of options beyond buttons!

You can always embroider on the animal face using your yarn or tapestry needle (a really great option for hats), or you can look into safety eyes.  The embroidery option is pretty self explanatory.  The safety eye option, though, is something that seems to get overlooked.  It might be because an extra step in ordering the eyes is required, but very few people seem to even be aware of the possibility.

A safety eye is basically a small screw with a washer that attaches to the back side of your project to help keep it securely attached.  They’re perfect for stuffed amigurami animals.  The ones shown below are available from a shop called 6060 on Etsy.

Safety Eyes Available from 6060 on Etsy

Next time you’re trying to decide which eyes are the best for your project, be sure to consider all the options and choose whichever is safest…..It’s easy to just go with the “That would never happen to me” mentality….but what if it did?

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