What do you use as an alternate stitch marker? Tried using the regular plastic rings but they made the yo “holes” too big…using size 6 needle. Thanks!
You can tie another piece of yarn into a loop, use a different color. Another alternative is a paper clip. Stitch markers don’t have anything to do with making the YOs too large, btw…
I’ve cut up a drinking straw and found those pieces work great as stitch markers, altho’ I was using size 8 needles. It’s worth a try!
I’m VERY new to knitting and I have gotten supplies donated to me, I have cool round stitch markers. I know that you slip them on the needle and knit over them. How do you get them out? lol
May seem silly, but mine are solid rings, no notch or anything.
Thanks!
They stay on the needle, and when you come to them in your knitting you don’t knit into them, you just move them from one needle to another. Then when you’re done they just slip off.
In my humble experience a stitch marker can position itself so that it traps extra yarn during a yarn over. This is especially true if the stitch marker is on the back side of the work.
I purchased a number of silver and gold colored split rings from Micheal’s crafts. I pick a ring that is close to the size of the needle.
I haven’t had a problem with them, it may be because I usually knit to a larger looser gauge anyway. I also don’t often use them in lace either, though, just knitting in the round. But when I have, they don’t seem to catch extra yarn in the YO.
I humbly agree. I have some markers which are a little bulky, and I think they affect the size of the stitch worked past it. I’m doing a practice square now but will use a thinner marker of some sort when I make the final afghan square. I don’t know what a “colored split ring” is, from Michaels. Could it fall off?
I use stitch markers and I have to say, it depends on a couple of things, the size of the needle you’re using and the type of yarn. I use them a lot when doing projects with intricate patterns in them, just to help me keep track of the pattern and know whether it’s time to do a cable or yarn over or switch from knit to purl.
If you find that the stitch markers are causing the pattern to not have the look you desire, the best thing to do is use a piece of waste yarn, make a slip knot and use that as your stitch marker, passing it over from left to right needle as you would a slip stitch. If you do that it does not get included in the work.
Also, some patterns require you to leave a marker in the work so that you can measure from that mark. In those cases I use a piece of waste yarn, tie it to the row there in a loose knot that I can easily pull off when I’m done. Then I use a traditional marker from there, especially when knitting in the round.
A split ring is similar to the ring used to hold jewelry to chains.
Look close to the picture of these two rings and you can see a split at the top of the gold and the bottom of the silver. The ring can open at the split and fall off but this is very rare.
I also use these rings as repeat counters. I will bend them open and link them together (closeing the opening once linked) so I have a chain with the number of ring equal to the number of rows/rounds between repeats. I have found for me the most common it a repeat every five rows. I therefore, made a chain with four silver ring - one gold ring - four silver rings - one gold ring. This gives me a counter for two repeats. To make it easier to remember which way is up on the chain I place some type of dangle on one end.
The other common counter I have is a 2 ring chain. This is very handy for increase a row, knit a row. The gold ring is always the increase row and the silver is always the knit row. Set my knitting down and come back the next day and I know if I am on an increase or knit row by looking at the chain.
Most of the time I use just the ring for a stitch marker. A package of 50 rings do not cost too much and come in different sizes. I have multiple sizes and use the size closest to the needle size that is easy to knit with.
Yarn markers come in different sizes, and you may just have a size which is too big. You want the smallest one that still slides nicely on whatever size needle you are using. They can have charms attached or not (the charms can be flipped out of the way pretty easily), be plastic or metal or yarn. Particularly when I’m knitting in the round, I’ll use at least one with a charm to mark the beginning of the row.
I use the same ones and do the same thing as Chris (cacunn) does. It works very well and the markers are inexpensive.
At the bottom of the multiple looks I’ve used decorative things like he does or beads.
I use hair ties… the little tiny ones you can get clear or colored and you can get them at the dollar store and you get like 200 so they are cheap too. Even the Walmart ones are cheap
I use paper clips hehe. I have tons of them (for some reason), and they work great. I don’t have to worry too much about size, since I just hook them onto a stitch or stitch gap (if that makes sense). At first I used saftey pins, but then they were just too small, and they kept getting a little tangled. Paper clips don’t seem do that for me 
I’ve used paper clips too, especially when I was knitting at my old job, they were very handy.
Hi, I just use a little scrap piece of yarn in a different colour, and make it into a slip knot. I also use scrap yarn as stitch holders.
this is silly. i know. still… is there a video of what to do when you come to the stitch marker in your work and need to move it for the next row/round? the description doesn’t do anything for me, think i need the visual on this one…
ok, thanks to ashley at lion brand yarns (via you tube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVHjiZVCjtM ) i get it… mostly… 
when i first used them (and i have the split ring kind), i wrapped it around the yarn, instead of just putting it on the needle, but now i see how she’s using them, and i’m close enough to the beginning of the project (sock on circulars) that i can count the stiches and fix it.
but i still have a question… if you’re using them to help remember pattern, like doing something every 10 stitches, then if you just slip the marker from one needle to the other, left to right, every time you get to it, theoretically it’s in the same/correct spot every row/round, yes?
Yes, that’s right, the marker is usually carried up the work to mark a place.
. The exact placement of the marker depends on what you’re doing. If there is a right leaning dec every 10sts every other row (as in the crown of a hat), I find it’s more helpful to place the marker after the column of stitches to be decreased. That way the marker doesn’t get in the way of the sts to be knit together but it’s always there to mark the place of the dec. If it’s a left leaning dec, the marker before the dec works better for me.
Marking a stitch is sometimes called for, too.