I have a dark addiction...

This is not my entire collection.

...namely, stitch markers. For years, I just used paper clips (when I used stitch markers at all). They're cheap, bountiful, and work really, really well. But... they're boring. And they kept getting commandeered to, I don't know, clip paper and stuff. (Crazy talk!) And I kept seeing all these adorable ones on Etsy and Ravelry.

I gave in. I had to have them. And for someone who doesn't make a lot of jewelry, I have a pretty impressive bead stash. So I made a few. Tried them out. Liked them. Made a few more.

The rest, as they say, is history. I make them for my Etsy shop now too, but this is how it usually goes: make a set for Etsy. Make two sets for myself. Make a set for Etsy. Make another set for myself. Buy more beads--theoretically because they'll look nice in the Etsy shop, but really because I want them for my own. (Those skulls, man. Those skulls.)

And now that I'm knitting, well. That's a whole different kind to make! (Knitting typically uses closed-ring stitch markers, held between the stitches on your needles, while crochet requires removable stitch markers that clip onto the stitches themselves.) I won't pretend that I don't get excited when I start a project that needs stitch markers. Heck, I'll go a step further: sometimes I choose the markers to match the yarn. Sometimes I switch them out halfway through because I'm bored with those markers now, time for new ones!

I'm just saying: once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.