Let's Make Stitch Markers!!!

Introduction: Who doesn’t like pretty things and a little bling from time to time? How about a little knitting or crochet "jewelry" while creating your projects?

Well, that’s what I was thinking when I asked cindylen* to join me in hosting an event on making stitch markers in the From Trash to Treasures group on ravelry.

Here’s our opening graphic that we used to invite members and welcome them to our little June event, though this appears much smaller here than it was in our thread.

*cindylen is Cindy’s ravelry name. In ravelry, we protect our identities through self-selected names and avatars as we participate in groups and events.

Our purposes were to learn (or hone) stitch marker skills to make sets for giving, sharing or selling; and to share a little fun event which would culminate in a post on my blog. The event has completed so it's time to post our accomplishments. 

The Categories: cindylen and I put our heads together and came up with a few suggested categories for making stitch markers. Since this is a group that states it is focused on "recycling, upcycling, reusing and repurposing," we decided to include a category or two with these attributes in mind. 

1.   Made from scratch stitch markers: creating beads or embellishments from clay, wood, paper, yarn or ?

2.   Nature stitch markers: things found in the woods, at the beach, in your own backyard or ?

3.   Repurposed stitch markers: made from things that started life as something else but used for this purpose.

4.   Themed or holiday stitch markers: a central theme (food, animals, flowers, Christmas, etc.).

5.   Wire Wonders: shapes made from wire.

6.   Presentation sets: complete sets of markers with gift giving in mind.

We hope you will want to create sets of your own. They make wonderful gifts for knitting and crochet friends. Then again, maybe it’s time to treat yourself and make a set of stitch markers just for you! (Don’t forget to treat yourself once in awhile—you deserve it.)

Made from Scratch category Flower Garden I by cindylen This set of knitting stitch markers, made from Shrinky Dinks, is a flower lover's treasure featuring such flowers as a rose, sunflower, daisy and daffodil.
	Made from Scratch category Garden Goodies by delights Hand-formed from Fimo clay and baked to hardness, this set of knitting stitch markers includes peas, an eggplant, a potato (complete with eyes) and a colorful carrot.
Made from Scratch category Flower Garden II by cindylen This second set of six flower knitting stitch markers by cindylen and also made from Shrinky Dinks, includes beads to help weight the markers.
	Repurposed category From the Tackle Box by daytripper How unique is this? This set of knitting stitch markers is from daytripper's husband's tackle box (with his permission, of course). daytripper used all sorts of fishing goodies including fishing line, beads that look like salmon eggs and a pink Colorado blade lure.
Repurposed category Blue Jeans Beads by cindylen Another unique set of stitch markers: center beads made from rolled strips of denim from an old pair of jeans. cindylen rolled and glued and rolled and glued to concoct this set. Notice that one bead is different from the other four. The purpose of a unique marker is to mark the beginning of a round or the start of a stitch sequence.
	Repurposed category JoAnn Beads by cindylen This set could fit comfortably in either the Repurposed or Made from Scratch category. cindylen rolled these cylindrical beads from a page from a JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store circular. These are attractive AND functional.
Wire Wonders category Rainbow Beads by Floriental Floriental specialized mostly in crochet stitch makers bending wire in unique ways to produce her sets. For crochet projects, the markers attach to stitches themselves, rather than slide on a needle, as in knitting. This set of Rainbow Beads includes graded colors in one hue per bead—eight in all.
	Wire Wonders category Simple Swirls by Floriental Here's a set of eight crochet stitch markers made from a gold colored wire that Floriental bent to shape. This set is a more understated set.
Wire Wonders category Rainbow Beads by Floriental Floriental specialized mostly in crochet stitch makers bending wire in unique ways to produce her sets. For crochet projects, the markers attach to stitches themselves, rather than slide on a needle, as in knitting. This set of Rainbow Beads includes graded colors in one hue per bead—eight in all.
	Wire Wonders category Lucky Horseshoes by Floriental Eight seems to be the magic number for Floriental's sets of markers. Here's another set of burnished gold in a U shop or horseshoe shape for the crocheter.
Wire Wonders category Easy and Elegant by Floriental Floriental was on a roll making stitch markers! Here are two more sets in two different metal tones.
	Nature Stitch Markers category Back to Nature by cindylen In this event cindylen was the most adventuresome, trying more categories and adapting more materials. Here is her set of knitting stitch markers wood discs.
Themed Stitch Markers category By the Sea by delights delights made over two dozen sets of stitch markers during this event, most of which were themed. This one features a seahorse as the one unique marker in this set of four. She coupled it with a handcrafted box and tag for a complete themed set.
	Themed Stitch Markers category Lucky You by delights Here's a themed set of five knitting stitch markers featuring purple dice beads with one unique marker of a lucky horseshoe charm.
Themed Stitch Markers category Christmas by delights Actually, these are two distinctly different sets: the two gingerbread cookies are knitting stitch markers and the two Christmas bulbs are crochet markers. About the crochet markers: notice the clasp at the top. This type of clasp is called the lobster claw. It's a jewelry making supply but works perfectly for crochet stitch markers. This set could also fit in the repurposed category as the gingerbreads were earrings and the bulbs were plastic Christmas decor.
	Presentation Set category An Apple a Day by delights This is a set of Fimo clay markers, which could also fit in the Made from Scratch or Theme category but here it is shown as a presentation set—a complete gift set. delights is making sets of markers for two of her Etsy shops. Here is (from L-R) an apple, a pear, an orange and a plum.
Presentation Set category Asian Inspired by delights Here's a striking set of four knitting stitch markers in black, gold and red with one unique stitch marker.

Love Is Something If You Give It Away

There is an old song that goes, "Love is something if you give it away… you'll end up having more." This blog post is about "love" given away on Valentine's Day in Wrangell, Alaska.

Here's the story: Suzie B., head cook at Wrangell Medical Center, saw a photo of my Valentine brooches and an idea came to mind. She thought it would be a cheery surprise for the 18 longer term care patients at the center to receive heart pins for Valentine's Day. She went to Jane B., who heads up the center's support services, with her idea. Jane embraced it and they went in together on the purchase of the brooches. 

Once contacted, I selected the brooches and attached them on individual cards which I mounted on a covered piece of cardboard made to fit perfectly into a special box. The other two brooches were wrapped in tissue and placed loosely in the box with the others. Off the box went to Wrangell in plenty of time for the intended Valentine surprise. Above: This is the photo of 16 of the brooches as they appeared mounted on the display cardboard. Strips of gauze-type ribbon kept the cards and pins in place.


The day before Valentine's Day, Suzie and Jane took the pins to the center's day room and handed them out. Suzie says, "They were so happy and thrilled to receive them and wanted them pinned on." Sixteen of the recipients were women and two were men. One of the men opted to look at his rather than have it pinned on but everyone else proudly and happily wore and displayed their special Valentine brooches. 


Suzie shares, "It was a wonderful feeling to give these seniors little gifts that brought them joy." 


Now we have come full circle, back to the song, "Love Is Something If You Give It Away." Referring to love, another part of the song goes: It's just like a magic penny—hold it tight and you won't have any but lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many, they'll roll all over the floor. So, while Suzie and Jane were giving love away on this Valentine's Day, they got back so much more. In return they received back grateful expressions of thanks and big smiles, which are apparent in the first photo of four of the wonderful ladies wearing their pins and whose happy faces say it all.


Thanks Suzie and Jane for sharing your story but mostly for sharing your love to 18 seniors you care about. The Wrangell Medical Center must be a wonderful place with happy residents who are fortunate to have such a caring staff. Now you've spread the love and joy to the rest of us. Thanks!


And here's a little extra note from Suzie, "We girls in the kitchen just loved the pins and wish we had ordered ones for ourselves, too!" 


Ed note: You can see more photos of Valentine brooches and a little about them in the post below this one. 

Valentine Brooches

Christmas is over, mitten making and selling on etsy are slowing down, and that means I can breathe again. Well, just for a moment, because now I am making brooches for Valentine's Day at my second etsy store (fabriq). But I thought I would take a little time to share a sample of the brooches here on my blog.

Above: This is an enlargement of one of the more traditional Valentine brooches. Actually, the little pins measure only 2—2.25 inches across.

Below: Here is a photo of nine of the brooches so you can see a greater variety. The brooch shown above is in the upper right hand corner of this photo.

Background info: When I was cutting felted wool this fall and winter for mitten making, I saved scraps in a paper bag beside my chair thinking I might find some use for bits and pieces. In addition to this scrap bag, I have two trash bags of sweaters that felted up too much to use for mittens. I thought I might also find other purposes for these. I don't like to toss materials out if I think I can repurpose them in some way.

I didn't have an idea in my head for using the scraps but, as my husband quotes from time to time, "Luck is preparation meeting opportunity." Opportunity happened in the "From Trash to Treasures" group on ravelry when some of the group members signed on to participate in a Valentine Swap. As Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday, I sort of promoted the swap and was glad when others came forward to moderate the event and still others embraced the idea. Okay, so back to luck, preparation and opportunity....

One of the possible swap suggestions was to create something wearable in a Valentine theme for our partners. Before being assigned a partner, I started knitting a pair of red, wool mittens but when assignments were made, I learned that my partner (Jenn) was allergic to wool. Okay...I guess that wouldn't work so I decided I could list them on my etsy mitten shop after I embellished them with felted wool hearts cut perfectly using my Sizzix machine. Worked like a charm! If you don't know what a Sizzix machine is, it's just a little manual die cutter with a handle to to cut shapes. I happened to have one die with four different size hearts on it. Here is the pair of Valentine mittens I knitted and the heart embellishments.

Well, since I couldn't include the mittens to Jenn, one thing led to another (luck, preparation and opportunity...) and I was inspired to create a Valentine brooch for her piggybacking on the embellishments I made to put on the mittens. Of course, I had to make a brooch for Jenn out of fleece but most of the brooches I have made are of felted wool.

Materials: Felted wool (or fleece), beads, satin roses, embroidery floss, thin ribbon, buttons and other plastic embellishments make up the creative part. On the backs are pin clasps. (See below.)

Tips: Above are two felted wool pins, one face forward and one from the back. The brooch on the left is made of fleece. I found the fleece more difficult to work with compared to the wool, in this regard: I can crochet lacy edges on the wool but have to embroider the edges of the fleece because even a tiny crochet hook will not penetrate the fleece.

The main reason for sharing the above photo is to show the clasps. I always check the clasps first to see that they open and close easily, that they are not bent or misshapen, and that they are right side up. I hand-sew the clasps to the largest heart before assembling layers so I can hide my stitches and knots on the reverse side. At first I was using regular thread but found that by stitching with embroidery floss I don't have to make as many individual stitches because there are multiple strands of floss. I was using three strands and that meant it was like making more passes of stitching through the clasps with one stitch. I matched the floss to the color of the felted (or fleece) heart. It is best NOT to glue the clasps because the dried glue will make your pin stiff and the clasp will not be as secure.

I did use glue, however, to attach the satin roses. I used glue intended for fabrics (Liquid Stitch) but didn't want to use it to attach the heart layers or the pins would have been rigid to the touch. By embroidering layers together, the brooches are soft and more visually and tactilely appealing. To secure the roses in place while the glue is drying, I use little plastic clips to hold them. The clips are not as strong as clothespins and therefore do not smash or flatten the satin roses.

To visit my second esty shop that features these brooches for Valentine's Day, Click Here

(The name of my second shop is called fabriq.)