Extra Tools for Knitting: Stitch Markers

Hi there, I'm Jen Lucas for the Knitting Circle. In this video I'd like to talk a little bit about stitch markers. There's a wide variety of stitch markers to choose from and there's also a wide variety of reasons that you would need to use a stitch marker in your knitting. So let's go ahead and take a look at all the different types of stitch makers. As you can see there's many different types of stitch markers so let's just go ahead and take a closer look. So probably the most common stitch marker you'll find is one that's like this, which looks like a safety pin, but doesn't have a coil. You wouldn't want to use a safety pin as a stitch marker because of that coil that a safety pin has. It might actually catch on your yarn and snag. But lots of companies make these great stitch markers that open in the same way that a safety pin does. So here's the plastic version. You can see that they come in both a large and small size, so depending on your needle size and project you can use the right one for you. I also like these metal ones, that really do look like a safety pin, except they don't have a coil and actually look more like a light bulb. And they open up just like a safety pin. You could even find cute ones, like this. This one's suppose to look like a little sheep. This is a tiny little stitch marker there. These types of stitch markers are really great, 'cause you can add them and remove them from your knitting as you like. So you can see here I just have this little swatch of garter stitch. When I'm working garter stitch I really do like to have a stitch marker to mark the right side of my work, since with garter stitch both the right and wrong sides look the same. So, I like having one of these types of stitch markers, 'cause I can just open it up, take it off. If I need to move it, I can move it. They also have closed ring stitch markers, like this. And I have a few different kinds here. These are some plastic ones. Again, they do come in a wide variety of sizes. So, depending on your needle size you can use the right one for you. I also have some metal ones here. You can see that they come in different sizes. This one is decorative and has a little sheep on the end of it. And then I also have these, which my friend made. And they're essentially closed rings stitch markers but they're decorative. So you can even make your own stitch markers at home if you like to do bead work. The disadvantage to closed ring markers is that once they're on your needle, you can't take them off until you come to them again. So if I was putting a stitch marker onto my knitting here, I might just knit a few stitches. And then stick a marker on. I'll have to use this bigger one, since I have a larger needle. Keep knitting. Knitting, knitting. Maybe I'll add one of these ones that open. And then I'm gonna keep going. And now I'm gonna add a split ring marker. Split ring marker is this one here. Let's talk about that one. So the split ring marker does just that. The ring splits open. So what's great about this is that you can add this to an individual stitch. If we needed to mark this stitch here. I could actually open it up and add it to that specific stitch. I can do this with this type of marker as well. But this particular type of marker I like using for that. And you could also use them like a regular marker here, like you would if you were marking a pattern repeat or the beginning of your round if you were working and knitting. You can also use these split ring markers the same like you would the other ones. The safety pin type. And mark the right side of your work. I do find that these can slip off a little bit, so you have to be careful. But they're also great for that too. You could see here where I've used these stitch markers, just to mark stitches in this row if this was some sort of pattern repeat, I had like a lace stitch pattern here or something. You could see this marker here, the closed ring, I cannot take this marker off until I work back to it and then would slide it off the needle. These other types, though, if I realize this was in the wrong place or I didn't need it anymore, I could just open it up and take it off. And the split ring marker, since it has a hole in it, I can just take it right off the needle as well. So that's just a few different type of stitch markers. Really it's about what type of project you're using and which type you like. You know, I really like the safety pin type. I love using the ones that my friends have made. If you have a lot of markers on your needle, this might become a little cumbersome to have all these hanging down. It really is a lot of personal preference when it comes to stitch markers. As you can see they do come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. And different ones will serve a different purpose in your knitting. I'm Jen Lucas for the Knitting Circle. I hope that you enjoyed this video. And I'll see you back here again real soon.