cross-stitch project: silver floss

I'd heard the horror stories about working with metallic thread--"It tangles so easily!" "It's such a pain to work with!"--but I foolishly didn't believe them...until last week. A kind crafty friend generously lent me her button maker, and I decided to test it out and make a cross-stitch pinback button. Armed with blue aida cloth and silver floss, I set to work cross-stitching a c design that I'd found in a pattern pamphlet I picked up from Half Price Books. About two stitches in, problems started to occur. Strands separated, knots formed, and I missed stitches, which led to me pulling them out and starting again. Thankfully, my project was small (the button is 2 1/4" in diameter) and I finished it relatively quickly.