How to Turn Any Charm into a Progress Keeper

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I LOVE progress keepers. Especially those incredible handmade polymer clay creations. But you know what I don’t like? Lobster claws. You know those little fasteners on the charms that are too small to clip onto stitches? Maybe it’s just me and my fake nails getting in the way (no, this was an irritation long before my obsession with NexGen)… but I found myself not wanting to move my progress keepers once I’d placed them because it was so frustrating.

How to Turn Any Charm into a Progress Keeper Video Tutorial

That’s when my friend, Rebecca, came to the rescue. She saw my struggle and offered to change my progress keepers to earring backs. Earring backs? I was imagining studs. But no, these are like lever back earrings. Visualize those lovely drop style earrings or the massive clip-on doorknockers your grandma wore. Rebecca slowly transformed my collection of progress keepers each knit night into a functioning fleet. I felt guilty about the time she spent on them (she said it really didn’t take any time and to stop fussing) and bought her progress keepers and fasteners to make up for it.

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See, I was afraid to do it on my own. I really don’t know why! I thought I would get too frustrated (it looked finicky) and end up with a bent pile of metal mess (still happens sometimes). Rebecca kept telling me she could teach me in a second because it was sooo easy. She told me what to buy at the craft store and we sat down for five minutes at our weekly knit night and that was it. I learned! Rebecca was right, it wasn’t hard. And boy does it make a difference to me and my progress keepers.

So if you, like me, want to change the hardware on your progress keepers… maybe you have some beautiful stitch markers you want to convert… or you bought some cute charms at the store and want to display them on your knitting or crochet- I’ve got you covered. Well me and the knowledge I reaped from my dear friend.

Follow this link to my five(ish) minute video on how to convert charms into progress keepers.

I cover all the tools you’ll need and give you step-by-step directions!

The tools you’ll need (all can be found at your local craft store in the beading section):

• charms with a hole or loop
• two needle nose pliers
• jump rings
• earring or lever backs

Some of my favorite shops to buy progress keepers:

• Lindsey Goodall from Simply Serving | @simplyservinghk
• Stevie from Sweet Cherry Shop | @17sweetcherry17
• Chelsea from Sucre Sucre Miniatures | @sucresucreminiatures

I hope you enjoy turning your charms into functional progress keepers! Next week I will show you how to transform glass beads into stitch markers and progress keepers. Stay tuned!

Love in stitches,

Knitty Natty