I made this necklace for my sister, with rice pearls and Swarovski crystals.
I’ve been itching to make some decorative stitch markers. I had some leftover crystals and pearls, so I went to the bead store to buy some toggle clasps. I found some great ones in pewter, for $1.50 each. But that meant $15 for 10 stitch markers, which seemed kind of steep to me, especially since I’d only be using the circle half of the toggle clasp.
I found some sterling silver thin wire eye pins instead, $4 for a package of 20. That means $2 for my 10 stitch markers. Winner!
Do you want to make some? You’ll need some thin eye pins and beads, small pliers, and a fat knitting needle (I think mine is a US 11 or so) to help you make nice round circles. I chose the eye pins instead of the head pins, because I wanted to make sure the beads wouldn’t slip off the end. If you have beads with small holes, head pins would work fine.
Thread your beads onto the eye pin. Bend the pin to a right angle from the beads. Place your thumb under the bent part of the pin, put the fat knitting needle against the wire and wrap the wire around the knitting needle, making a circle. Twist the end of the wire around the base of the circle where the wire comes out of the pins. Wrap several times, trim if necessary, pinch down with pliers so there aren’t any ends to catch on your yarn. Easy! I watched this tutorial on making wire loops; you might find it helpful.
9/6/09: Edited to add: I made some more stitch markers, this time using flex cord. You can see the process here.
And in other news, guess who’s back?
He’s not interested in the thistle seed sock, just the black oil sunflower seeds in the feeder on the left, so everyone is getting along for now. The cat is highly amused, watching out the window. It’s Cat TV.
PDXKnitterati 
Thank you for sharing this. I’m a novice, and I think I know what a headpin is but I don’t know what an eyepin is. I gave up a while back when I saw how many pieces I had to buy just to get a dozen pins, so I bought a few earwires, and put charms from a $ store bracelet on the little loopy thingy. They work like a ‘charm’ (haha), they’re adjustable, and they’re movable, like for row markers. But I always wondered how the regular ones were made. Thanks. 🙂 Angie
Your stitch markers look great!
An eyepin has a loop on the end; the headpin just has a head like a regular pin. But the loop is bigger than the head, and I just wanted to be sure my beads weren’t going to fall off. It was a learning experience, standing in the bead store looking at all the jewelry findings. Who knew there were so many kinds of rings? (Jump rings, soldered rings, hoops, toggles…)
OK, thanks, that’s what I thought. Yes, so many different pieces! and in packs of 200… It’s nuts! …oh the possibilities!
Nice job on the stitch markers!
Where is the pattern for the knitted fabric on the right side of the top of this site, the one with the blue squares? Awsome! Thanks, Betsy
Hi, Betsy:
The fabric is my felted slip stitch tote, before felting. You can purchase the pattern here:
https://pdxknitterati.com/patterns/felted-slip-stitch-tote/
Cheers, Michele
Um, I’m relatively new to stitch markers. I have used paper clips in the past, and I have one stitch marker that came with my US 1 knitting needles. Yours are far prettier than the ones I have used, and my daughter has made some charms that seem to take similar skills to what you’ve done.
I don’t quite understand about yours…how do you get them on and off the stitches? If I can explain that to my daughter, perhaps she’ll make me some. 🙂
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