Stitch markers

[untonuggan]

I realize I'm probably opening up a whole kettle of fish by asking this, but I am new to knitting and wonder whether it's worth it to bother buying stitch markers. Right now I'm just using a loop of a contrasting scrap yarn as a stitch marker. It can be a little cumbersome, but I don't have to worry about losing it (can always get more small bits of yarn). Annoyingly, the acrylic yarns tend to fray a bit.

I've read that it's much smoother and faster to use the commercially made stitch markers, but I do wonder (a) if that is just slick marketing, (b) about the wasted plastic/shipping/processing costs to the environment, (c) about what happens when I lose the expensive little things.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Thanks for all the suggestions and input, folks! I think I will go crazy if I try to respond to every reply, so I'll just say thanks here!

Comments

[bedlamsbard]

I also make my own stitch-markers, since I have jewelry-making equipment, and I use them mainly when I'm doing complicated lace for things like the border, the center, and anything else that needs to be marked. Before I started making stitch markers, I used scraps of yarn and rings. (At that point in time, I wore seven to nine rings, so whenever I needed a stitch marker I'd pull one off and stick it on the needle. The downside of this is that rings have a tendency to get caught in the knitting, but that depends what kind of ring it is (smooth bands do better than rings with gems in or complicated patterns). They're a little heavier than stitch markers, so I wouldn't use them on slender needles.) I found that the problem with yarn scraps for me was that the loop would start coming undone and it was much harder to tell when you hit a scrap marker, while with a contrasting marker (metal, whatever), you definitely know when one shows up, which is the point for me.

As far as losing them (or not) goes, I keep my stitch markers in the same box I use for my jewelry when I'm not using them.