Not Your Grandmother's Stitch Markers

I remember pilfering my mother's knitting bag, and wondering what in the world those little round things were - mom said they were stitch markers, so you could keep track of repeats.  I never realized until I started kntting lace that these little items are really quite useful. 

Plastic stitch markers will do the job, most of the time.  But they have drawbacks:  too wide for lace, and...well...they just aren't pretty.  I have seen a few specialty stitch markers around, but none of them really grabbed me by the pocketbook and demanded that I purchase them.

One day, I was looking at some beaded, dangle earrings and had a brainstorm:  wouldn't these make really nice stitch markers?  Trip to local bead shop, and I was set to experiment. 

I may have found a new, creative pasttime.  This is more fun than knitting!