All About Stitch Markers in Crochet
Stitch markers are really helpful in keeping track of a particular place in your work. A marker can be a scrap piece of yarn, safety pin, paper clip, plastic ring, or just about anything else that can easily be placed into the loop of a stitch.
Markers in the Round
If you are working in the round markers are used to keep track of where the round ends and the next round begins. When you crochet around in a circle, it is very easy to lose track of where to stop and start a new round if you don’t use a marker. To place a marker, just insert it into the loop that is on your hook to mark the beginning of the round. At the end of every round, you should move the marker and put it into the new loop that is on your hook. You know you are at the end of the round after you make a stitch into the stitch right before the stitch with the marker in it.
Markers for Sewing
If you are reading a pattern, it may tell you to place a marker so that you can refer back to that location in your work later. Often times this will be a place where you will need to sew together with another part of your work.
Markers as References
Markers can have a unlimited amount of functions. They can be used to help you count stitches if you place then every 10 or so stitches. Markers can even be used to indicated where you are suppose to increase, decrease or do a set of stitches.
Do you have a question or info about stitch markers to share?
I am probably not the first to do this, but I have discovered that a lever back earring works great for a stitch marker. It has a little hook to catch the stitch and the lever is spring loaded, so you can flip it up all with one hand! Give it a try.
Sorry to be a stickler, but the English teacher in me must mention that “lose” (in paragraph 2, line 2) is only spelled with one “o”. It’s one of those pesky typos that spell-check doesn’t get!
)
Thanks for the informative article!
Thanks for pointing that out Cami! All fixed
I keep several safety pins handy and use them for everything from counting rounds, stitches, and to hold the loop when putting my work down. Great topic!
I used bobby pins (for hair). They’re not the best, but they’re what I have on hand…I never use them for my hair anyways.
I love this web site! Thanks for all your effort and for sharing.
I’m almost wondering if I’m doing something wrong. Everybody seems to put the stitch marker in the first stitch of the round, I put it in the last. It’s a little confusing for some patterns where the positioning of the marker is important in the pattern. But so far everything has worked.
Hey Bookworm, I think they functionally work the same way, if you put the marker into the beginning of your round or the last stitch. The only thing that makes it different is that if the marker is in the beginning stitch then you will not make your last stitch into it, you would stop right before the stitch with the marker in it. If the marker is in your last stitch, then you would make your last stitch into the stitch with the marker in it.
Like Elizabeth, I often use bobby pins, but I am careful to use rubber-tipped ones. As soon as the rubber tips fall off, I stop using it on yarn and thread.
Like Bookworm, I always mark the last, rather than the first, stitch. But, as Rachel points out, I don’t think it makes much of a difference.
Jo’s tip about the lever-back earring is new to me. I’ll watch for some cheap ones.