Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

Beaded Knitting Stitch MarkerUsing beads made from recycled plastic bags

Why have boring plastic rings or messy looking scraps of yarn to mark your knitting stitches? These delightful stitch markers look like little treasures and are quick, easy, and inexpensive to create.

I like to think of them as, “Earrings for Knitters”.They're perfect for gifts, and would probably sell quite well when displayed on cards, similar to

earrings.In the directions below, I've used my “plastic bag beads”, recycled from ordinary plastic grocery bags.

You can learn how to make them from my book:

Bags to Beads available on my website,

http://lorifellows.coffeecup.com/

and on my blog:lorifellows.wordpress.com

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

Tools and Materials:

*2” Head Pins (2 for each stitch marker)*assorted beads ( about 1” of beads for each stitch marker )*wire cutters*round-nose pliers*bent-nose pliers*chain-nose pliers*jumpring mandrel that has a 8mm diameter size.

Please note that these instructions assume you know basic wire jewelry techniques such as cutting and straightening wire, and wrapped loops.

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

Directions:

1: Cut the head from one of the head pins.

Center wire on the 8mm section of the jumpring mandrel.

Bend it around the mandrel, crossing the ends. Keeping the ends even in length, bend until the ends are flat, sticking straight out from the sides of the mandrel as shown.

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

2: Remove the wire ring from the mandrel. Using the chain-nose pliers, grasp the ring close to where the ends cross. Holding the chain-nose pliers firmly, carefully make a tiny, inward facing loop on each end with round-nose pliers.

3: Still grasping the ring firmly with the chain-nose pliers, grasp both tiny loops with the bent-nose pliers and twist/bend them around each other. They should be flat/parallel with the ring.

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

4: Still grasping the ring firmly with the chain-nose pliers, carefully bend each tiny loop slightly downward. Then, squeeze/press them together. They should be at a 45 degree angle to the ring with their holes evenly together. If needed, tweak the tiny loops with the round-nose pliers. It is very important that the ends of the wire are tucked inward to prevent yarn from catching on them.

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

5: Slip a few beads onto the other head pin. They should measure about 1”. At about 1/4” from the end of the round-nose pliers(the end of the pliers, not the head pin), start making a small wrapped loop flush against the beads.

After you bend the wire around the pliers and loop around under them, open it slightly as you would a jumpring and slip it through both tiny loops on the ring as shown below. Gently press it closed.

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

6: Finish making the wrapped loop. Make sure the end of the wire is tucked close to the bead and that there are no rough edges.

Here's the finished stitch marker being used in a knitting project. The knitting needle is a size 8 or 4mm. As you can see, the stitch marker is large enough to use on a variety of needle sizes. You could make the ring smaller in diameter for smaller needles.

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

Here are some fancy knitting stitch markers. The heart and scroll were shaped with 18-20 gauge wire , then hammered to harden them.

If you enjoy recycling and crafts, check out my book on how to create beautiful beads from ordinary plastic grocery bags.

Bags to Beads available on my website,

http://lorifellows.coffeecup.com/

and on my blog:lorifellows.wordpress.com

Beaded Knitting Stitch Marker copyright 2012 Lori Fellows

Here are some examples from Bags to Beads of the lovely items you can create using grocery bag beads:

Original Christmas Ornaments: Lightweight Bracelets:

Bookmarks: Earrings:

Unique napkin rings: Fun Pendants: