How to – Make stitch markers

I’ve found these stitch markers are useful for lace work as they hang in front of the work and stop yarn-overs from migrating from one side of the marker to the other.

 

You will need 16 cm (5.5″) of tiger tail, 4 small beads, 2 crimps and some patience.

Double the tiger tail over without crimping it and slide one of the crimps onto the open end.

Slide the crimp along the doubled over tiger tail until it’s a little further than needed to fit the 4 beads. Remember to be careful not to crimp the tiger tail. Start sliding the beads on.

The arrangement I used for the beads uses binary numbers to help keep track of repeats in lace patterns. A silver bead represents 0, a gold bead represents 1. I put the MSB (most significant bit) bead on first, and the LSB (least significant bit) bead on last, so that when the marker hangs down it reads from top to bottom. 4 beads allows for the numbers 0 to 15. (The marker in the photos is 1011 or eleven).

When the four beads are in place, slide the second crimp on, and while keeping it close to the end of the tiger tail, firmly squeeze it closed.

Allow the beads to drop all the way down, then slide the top crimp down and squeeze it closed too. Voila, a stitch marker.