Beaded Stitch Markers with Hook Sizes

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I am someone who always has a million projects going at any given time. I have lots of ideas and often start working on the next idea before I finish one. This happens to me a lot with crochet projects. I usually have an on the go project that I take with me when I am sitting in the car in the school pickup line. A project I only work on at home because it has lots of pieces or colors, or it needs other stuff that I don't want to carry around. And then there are usually a few that I have have started simply because I saw a skein of yarn and had an idea pop in my head and started it right then. 

Sometimes this means I end up with projects that I have set aside for a while and they may or may not have a hook left with them. This happened to me recently and I could not remember which size of hook I was using. I knew it was either an H or an I, but I could not remember for sure which it was. I thought for the hundredth time that I really should make myself some simple stitch markers with letters so that I can keep track of the hook size when I set a project aside. 

I knew it would be a simple, quick project, but I just never have jewelry making supplies out and I hadn't wanted to dig all of that stuff out. Then the other day I pulled out beads and jewelry making tools to help one of my daughters make a bracelet for her friend and after we finished it was just sitting out on my desk. So I pulled out some of the beads and findings and in a matter of just a couple of minutes had a whole set of bright colorful stitch markers with letter beads to label the hook sizes. 

I used colorful clay disc beads for mine because I had a bunch leftover from a project I did last year, and I thought they would be fun and different than others I had seen before. But you could use any beads you have or want to get. I made a couple samples with some little plastic crystal type beads to show another option. Whatever beads you use the process of making the markers will be the same. 

How to Make Beaded Stitch Markers

You will need:

• letter beads
• clay disc beads and small silver beads (or other small beads)
• head pins 
• jump rings
• lobster clasps
• jewelry pliers (I used a 3 in 1 tool)

Instructions:

I made each of the clay disc bead stitch markers in the same way, just switching up the colors. Any type of bead will be a similar process, you can switch up the order or placement of the beads as you wish. But for the sake of this tutorial I will share the process of the clay disc stitch markers that I made. 

Begin with the head pin, place one of the small silver beads on the pin first. You want to make sure that the bead you use has a small enough hole that it will stay on the pin. 

Next add the letter bead. I made a set from F-K because that covers all of the hook sizes I use the most. 

Then add a stack of the clay disc beads. I added between 10-12 for each one. I changed up the patterns for each one, all one color, random assorted colors, stripes, or a combination of those. 

Last I added a final silver bead at the top of the stack. 

Now that you have all of your beads on the pin take the round pliers and twist the tip of the pin into a loop. 

Add a jump ring to the loop you just made at the end of the pin and add a lobster clasp to the jump ring. Then use the flat part of the pliers to squeeze the jump ring closed. 

Attach the lobster clasp to the working loop of your project and never forget your hook size again.