Moving Stitch Markers

When working on lace projects, many knitters find it helpful to use stitch markers to mark the lace stitch repeats. While this is an excellent way to keep track of your stitches on the needles, there are times when those stitch markers can lead to confusion. There are situations where the stitch markers might need to be rearranged. In this video, lace knitter Jen Lucas works through a lace chart where the stitch markers need to be moved around on the knitting needles and shares some clues you can look for so you can tell when you are in a similar situation with your own knitting project.

Jen begins by looking at the following chart:

Written Instructions for Chart:
Row 1 (RS): K4, *k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1; rep from * to last 5 sts, k5.
Row 2 (WS): K2, purl to the last 2 sts, k2.
Row 3: K4, *k1, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk; rep from * to last 5 sts, k5.
Row 4: K2, purl to the last 2 sts, k2.
Row 5: K3, yo, *sk2p, yo, k5, yo; rep from * to last 6 sts, sk2p, k3.
Row 6: K2, purl to the last 2 sts, k2.

Rep Rows 1 – 6 for pattern.

Jen works through the first four rows of the pattern, slipping the stitches as she comes to them. When she begins Row 5, she notes that the markers will need to be rearranged as the row is worked. Once that row is complete, Jen shares some of the clues that you can look for in both the chart and the written instructions for a pattern that will indicate that it’s possible that the stitch markers need to be rearranged.