Stitch Markers

Ok, I have finally given into the hand made stitch marker craze. I admit, I was jealous of all those knitters and beaders out there who were making beautiful stitch markers. I wanted to belong (isn't that always the way?) so I Googled 'how to make sitch markers' and found some sites. The one I used was from Sheep In The City blog, with the link to her method of making stitch markers found here.

Now, keep in mind that this is my first attempt at making stitch markers, so they might not be as gorgeous or glamerous as more experienced stitch marker makers (say that ten times fast!). Yes, I know they aren't all uniform in length - a fact I only thought about after I finished making each individually and didn't think to measure the needle part first. Oh well, they varying lengths (though they aren't off by a whole lot) just add to creator uniqueness or something like that.

Ok, so to the right you will see the red ones (or would garnet be a better shade to call them?). I used a larger ring for those, but I think it would be better if I used a smaller ring (I only have two sizes really, and I wanted to have a variety of rings to be used on different size needles. The bigger rings could be used, I suppose on the larger needles. I used a 6.5mm bamboo needle to display them on, and there is plenty of room left over. I don't know if that would be too annoying to a knitter or not...I will let you know though.

To the left, you will see the other set of four I made. The rings on these are smaller and fit the 6.5mm bamboo needle fine. These would obviously not be able to be used on needles bigger than this size though, but I was thinking they might do for something like socks or mittens or lace scarves - some small project like that. Again, I have no idea but time will tell. Sorry that both of these pics are a little dark, but they were in shadow, and I didn't want to use the flash because I didn't want it to bounce off the window and create a glare or make it so the markers couldn't be seen so well. For the picture at the bottom I thought I would hold them up in the sun to make them look a little brighter.

I will be making some more of these (right now they are the only beads I have for making stitch markers) later today. Does anyone have any idea how many stitch markers are usually put into a set? The reason I ask, is that I want to make some to give away (along with some wool) as the September prize for the Knittin' Mittens KAL and I'm not sure how many to put as a set.

P.S. The Knittin' Mittens KAL is still open to all knitters, no matter your skill level. You still have a little over half the month to get your mittens/gloves in for the September draw. Also, the grand prize (a pattern, fleece and wool package to make thrummed mittens) requires that each knitter completes a pair of mittens or gloves for each month in order to get their name entered on this fabulous prize. If you don't want to enter the grand prize, but would just like to make mittens or glove a few times, that is fine as well because I plan on having a prize for each month as well.