Stitch Markers

I have been a bit unsure about stitch marekers. They often seem very expensive for so little and for a while I was unsure of their merit. I had previously tied a bit of yarn of contrasting colour where I wanted to mark a point in my work, for example when marking repetitions of a pattern to check I had not gone wrong before I got to the end of a row.

However, after some time the yarn comes untied and is no longer of use and needs to be replaced. Surely, I thought there must be something I could use instead that would be just as good but wouldnt cost as much as those little stitch markers.

Then, one day whilst I was at work I found myself staring at my paperclips (in their nice little tray I made!) and thought to myself how perfect they would be – nice loops that are nt too big and slide easily on the needles and can be removed and reinserted if necessary. I had a collection of coloured paper clips to look like numbers which I thought would be great for counting repeated sections so I decided to try them whilst working on the lacework on my shawl (no, it did not get finished in time for my self-imposed deadline!).

So far they seem to be working great and the colours and number are really fun!

H.