Stitch Markers Save Sanity!

Every serious knitter has them – stitch markers.  They might be mass-produced plastic rings or miniature works of art.  No matter what they look like, the humble stitch marker goes a long way to saving a knitter’s sanity when working with more complex patterns.

I learned this lesson the hard way.  When I was an advanced beginner, I decided to make the Avalon Grapevine Wrap by Cascade Yarns.  The pattern seemed straightforward and the resulting fabric looked extremely impressive to my inexperienced eyes.  Yarn in hand, I happily cast on my stitches looking forward to honing my skills.

Avalon Grapevine Scarf
Cascade Pattern Picture

 

And all was well – for about 6 rows.  The trouble began with row 7 when I wasn’t seeing the expected diamond pattern start to develop.  I found my mistake and frogged almost the entire row and carefully reknit it.  Unfortunately, the same thing kept happening.  Each row of progress required frogging, sometimes multiple rows.  I kept reviewing the pattern to try and figure out what I was doing wrong.  I assumed the problem was due to my inexperience.  After months of hard work, I only had about 7 inches done.  I was very discouraged.  After a particularly disastrous frogging session of 8 rows (yes, 8), I put the knitting down to really study the pattern. 

 

I understood what I was supposed to do for each row, the pattern is made up of knit, purl and yarn over stitches.  Nothing complicated there.  The pattern called for stitch markers at each end to mark where the edging was not in the grapevine pattern itself and I had those in place.  But the pattern did not call for stitch markers in the grapevine section itself.  What if I added them?  I carefully added the stitch markers to the start of each repeat of the grapevine pattern and started knitting again. 

 

Grapevine Detail
Cascade Pattern Picture

The results were AMAZING!  Each time I came to a marker, I did a quick check of the stitching I had just completed.  I was able to immediately spot my mistakes before I had even left the current section of knitting.  No more frogging, no more frustration and I was able to complete the scarf in about two weeks.  

The finished project (in fire engine red) looks like the pictures.  The only problem is the sides curl in.  The issue persists even with multiple blocking sessions and a 1/2" crocheted border on each side.  Even so, it is still an eye-catching scarf if you want to give it a try. 

 

What did I learn about stitch markers from this experience?

 

 1.     Just because the pattern doesn’t call for stitch markers doesn’t mean you can’t use them.  If the pattern has a lot of repeats (especially a lot of yarn overs) consider using them.  Knitting is fun, frogging is not.

 2.    Have extra stitch markers on hand.  I seem to drop them regularly and sometimes they just disappear.  It is not uncommon in my house for a stitch marker to randomly reappear while vacuuming or cleaning out a drawer.  They show up in the oddest places – I found one in my make up case once.  Don’t ask, I have no idea.

3.      Have a couple of different types of stitch markers on hand.  I like to use thinner ones with smaller yarns, thicker ones with worsted or bulky weights. 

4.       When casting on a large number of stitches, place a stitch marker every so many stitches to make more easy counting.  For example, an afghan pattern called for casting on 287 stitches so I placed a stitch marker after every 50 stitches.  It is a lot easier to count 5 stitch markers and 37 stitches than it is to count 287 individual stitches.

 

Now, I find myself with several different styles of stitch markers.  Once of these days, I will gather them all together and do some test knitting to figure out which ones I like the best.