Best Crochet Stitch Markers and Notions for Beginners

A hook and a skein of yarn are technically all you need to start crocheting, but a small kit of notions is what keeps a project from turning into a guessing game. None of these tools are expensive, and none are strictly required – plenty of people crochet for years without a gauge ruler in sight. What they do is take the guesswork out of the fiddly parts: knowing where a round started, finding the end of a seam, cutting yarn cleanly without fraying it. Here is what is actually worth adding to your bag, and what you can safely leave on the shelf.

*Disclosure: Crochet Crafty may earn a small commission from links on this page, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend gear we’d hand a real beginner.*

Stitch Markers: Locking vs Closed Rings

Stitch markers mark a specific stitch so you can find it again later – the start of a round, a point where you need to increase, a spot a pattern tells you to come back to. There are two basic styles, and for crochet, one of them is far more useful than the other.

Locking stitch markers open and close like a tiny safety pin or a small clasp, which means you can clip one onto any stitch, anywhere, at any point in your work, and unclip it just as easily when you are done with it. This matters because crochet stitches, unlike knitting, are not sitting on a needle waiting for a ring to slide over them – you need to be able to attach a marker directly into a finished stitch, which only a locking style lets you do without stretching or distorting the fabric.

Closed rings, the kind you slip onto a needle before you start, work fine for knitting but are far less practical for crochet, since there is rarely a convenient place to slide one onto as you go. If you only buy one style, make it locking markers – a set in a few different colors is genuinely useful, since you can use different colors for different jobs, like marking the front of your work versus marking an increase point. A basic multi-color locking set is a good place to start.

A Bent-Tip Yarn Needle for Seaming and Weaving In Ends

Every finished project eventually needs its loose ends woven in and, often, pieces seamed together, and a proper yarn needle, sometimes called a tapestry needle, makes both jobs faster and neater. Look for one with a blunt, slightly bent tip rather than a straight, sharp point. The bend helps the needle glide between stitches instead of splitting the yarn or the fabric it is passing through, and the blunt tip means you are sliding between strands rather than piercing straight through them, which keeps your seams and woven ends looking clean instead of puckered.

A metal needle with a large eye is the standard choice, since it holds thicker yarn without the eye cutting into the strand. Look for a set that includes a few different sizes, since a heavier yarn needs a larger eye than a fine one.

Small Sharp Scissors or a Yarn Cutter

Regular household scissors work in a pinch, but small, sharp embroidery-style scissors make a real difference once you are cutting yarn constantly – joining new balls, trimming ends after weaving, finishing off amigurumi pieces. A sharp, pointed pair gives you a clean cut close to your work without fraying the strand, which matters more than it sounds like it should, since a frayed cut end is much harder to weave in neatly.

Some crocheters prefer a small yarn cutter pendant instead – a little enclosed blade worn on a cord around the neck, so it is always within reach and never gets lost in a project bag. Either option beats digging around for scissors mid-project.

A Tape Measure and a Gauge Ruler

A flexible tape measure is essential for anything sized – a hat that needs to fit a head, a garment that needs to fit a body, even a blanket meant to reach a certain length. It is cheap, it is small, and it belongs in every project bag.

A gauge ruler, sometimes sold as a stitch gauge, is a small flat ruler with a cutout window, usually a two-inch or four-inch square, that you lay over your swatch to count stitches and rows accurately. This is the tool that tells you whether your tension matches what a pattern expects, which matters most for anything fitted, like a garment or a hat, where being off-gauge can mean a finished piece that is noticeably too big or too small. For a small amigurumi toy or a scrap-yarn coaster, gauge barely matters. For a sweater, it is the difference between a great fit and a wearable mistake.

A Row Counter, Manual or Clicker

Losing track of which round or row you are on is one of the most common frustrations in crochet, especially on a project with dozens of identical-looking rounds, like a hat or an amigurumi body. A row counter solves this with almost no effort: a simple manual click-wheel counter you advance by hand after each round, or a small mechanical clicker you press once per row.

You do not need anything fancy here – a basic clicker counter that clips onto your project bag or slides onto your finger does the job completely. The only real requirement is remembering to click it every single round, which becomes a habit within your first couple of projects.

What to Skip

A few things are worth being cautious about. Novelty-shaped stitch markers – tiny charms, dangly beads, oversized shapes – look cute in photos but tend to snag on your yarn or catch on your working loop as you crochet past them, which is exactly the opposite of what a marker should do. If you like the fun designs, save them for markers you place and remove quickly rather than ones you crochet around repeatedly.

Elaborate multi-tool gadgets that combine a dozen functions into one device also tend to underperform each individual job compared to a dedicated, simple tool. A separate, quality yarn needle and a separate pair of sharp scissors will almost always outperform an all-in-one tool trying to do both at once.

The Bottom Line

You do not need a huge notions kit to crochet well – a handful of locking stitch markers, a bent-tip yarn needle, small sharp scissors, a tape measure, and a simple row counter cover almost everything a beginner project will ask of you. Add a gauge ruler once you start making fitted pieces like hats or garments. Everything past that is a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have – buy it if it makes your process more fun, not because you feel like you are missing something without it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between locking and closed-ring stitch markers?

Locking stitch markers open and close so they can clip onto any stitch at any point in your work, while closed rings must be slipped on before you start, which makes them far less practical for crochet.

Do I really need a gauge ruler for crochet?

It matters most for fitted projects like garments or hats, where matching a pattern’s tension affects the final size. For small items like amigurumi or coasters, gauge barely matters.

What kind of yarn needle is best for seaming crochet?

A yarn needle with a blunt, slightly bent tip works best, since it glides between stitches instead of splitting the yarn or the fabric it passes through.

Are novelty stitch markers a bad idea?

Not entirely, but they work best as markers you place and remove quickly rather than ones you crochet around repeatedly, since charms or dangly shapes tend to snag on yarn or catch on your working loop.

— NoraEvery pattern hand-tested