Stitch Markers

Blog, I don't know if you're ready for this. Remember how I changed the blog name, in case I ever became Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart and started doing stuff other than knitting?

Hah. I beaded.

I had a few extra dollars on me the other day and was looking at some homemade stitch markers at my LYS, since right now I'm using tied-up little pieces of yarn and they stink. These stitch markers went for almost $2 apiece! I was all like "aw nah, I have beading supplies, I can make some!" (True story, I was into beading before I got back into knitting in 2008. I had a bead stash before I had a yarn stash.)

But since I'm basically a crafting idiot, first I had to find a good tutorial. I wanted to use beading wire because I'm lazy and cheap and had some on hand. Cue PDXKnitterati and her tutorial on how to make stitch markers with bead wire. I probably shouldn't show you this link since I want everyone to think I'm a genius, but I am honest and credit should be given where it is due. Use this tutorial. You too will look like a genius.

I know some gals who are super-nice to me and I feel like I can never do anything in return for them, so I busted out the dusty bead stash and picked out some beads for their stitch markers. I did ten of each, since ten is a good number. If I was buying stitch markers, I'd want a lot so I could use them on most projects.



First there's Ms. S. She loves the color blue (can you tell?). She has been really nice to me, giving me fiber to spin with and letting me dye some of her fiber, or even just giving me a bag full of yarn to use for my crapghan. 10 little stitch markers doesn't even make a dent in the kindness she's shown me.



Then there's Ms. B. I also call her the "Tuesday Taxi" since she is often willing to come pick me up after work on Tuesday and take me to the yarn store to hang out. She taught me how to use my drop spindle and puts up with my endless questions. She's even offered to lend me her loom. Yowza.



Ah, Ms. K. (Well, one of many Ms. Ks, but you don't know the others.) She is bright and cheerful and has put up with my constant rescheduling on our hanging out. We'll do it someday! I did need to take one of these stitch markers back because it needs some maintenance. I'd used a size one crimp bead on the "different" marker and didn't realize that the millefiore bead hole is large enough that it can fall off. (See the bottommost bead on the left, the one without seed beads on the bottom? Yeah.) Whoops. Thankfully she brought this to my attention and I'll try again with a larger crimp bead.

Doing this basically cleaned me out of crimp beads, so I'm thinking of going to the store and picking up some more as soon as I can reconcile not spending that money on yarn. It's gonna be tough ... but I want some!




This post is featured on Little Andalucia's Creative Friday Features.