Absolutely excellent suggestions have been offered already. I just wanted to let you know that I fiddled with the same things getting Brody and Mia into top knots.
With Brody, he'd never had a top knot so I'd just stick a little clip in (Dollar Store is a great place to get them)...carried them in a pocket...and he'd shake it out in a few minutes. I stayed with him until the top knot fell down again and picked up the clip. Eventually, after he got tired of his hair hanging in his eyes after him getting the clip out, I switched to bands, but I was also always talking him about how much better he could see with his hair up and how cute he was when I could see his darling little eyes, and eventually he just quit bothering with the top knot. He always got a top knot to go out in, even if I had to re-do it in the truck in the driveway before we left.
Now, he gets upset if Mia gets her top knot and clothes first before we go out, so I think he understood, plus he was probably completely convinced by then that he was super adorable looking and so gorgeous in a top knot! He's even brought me a scrunchie and jumped on my lap to have me put it in!
Yorkies are very smart and clever, they "
think"and they understand a huge amount of stuff, as Sadie also demonstrates...she
knows how long she
has to wear her top knot, but not one bit longer than that...and that is just so cute!
Mia was
easier for me because I became well practiced on Brody and our pseudo-pup Shih Tzu who we puppysit and who is in full coat and gets 2 top knots twice a day or more! Mia's previous mommy said she "won't wear a top knot" and she is pretty hyperactive, but she gets top knots every day. Now, after doing top knots for almost a year, I can whip 'em up with the heads a-spinnin' and while riding in an empty ("bouncy") 2-ton pickup truck just a-hoppin' over rough RR tracks!
You will get better at it, and faster, but
you have to train your 'brain and finger' muscles too. You can practice making top knots elsewhere on her body...use a scrunchie so you can just pull it out and do-over. When I put flea 'spot on' treatments on mine, to keep the oily goo from just running down their sides on top of their silky hair, I pull all the hair around the 'spot' up into a wad and put a scrunchie right near the ends of the hair as high over their backs as possible so it is not in the goo. It seems to work pretty well...and the spot on seems to work better and longer too...but you get extra practice too.
Your darling Mee-sha is so precious in her top knot and matching stick.
I have 'stick' photos, too, and understand completely...
Brody is not keen on having me clip his nails, either. I sometimes clip them while he is still in kitchen sink after a bath 'cuz he stands on his hind legs with front paws on the edge of the sink. He's a bit more demure by then.
His hair is wet and it is easy to see the nails...at least the front paws. I cannot offer more suggestions 'cuz I'm still working this issue myself with Brody, but someone posted link in a different thread and that lady pushed her Papillions' nails through a nylon stocking/knee high, etc., which holds back the hair...and I thought that was such a great idea, and plan to try it myself.
Hang in there.