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I am seeing a lot about counting pins on various forums but I have to say that I have no idea what they are and how they are used. I am sure there are many of you gasping out loud at my ignorance but hopefully someone will be able to remedy this sad situation for me.

They help count when you have far distances to go.. like 15-20 spaces.. and you can't use a marker to draw, or you don't use fishing line or a stitched grid. But unlike a drawn or stitched grid, you just use one or two sets in certain spots, not a full grid. I suppose you could use more than a few sets, but it would get expensive.

If you want to try before you buy.. use safety pins. I tried it and thought they just got in the way. I draw lines instead of using pins.. and yes my projects can look a mess while I'm working on them but it all washes out at the end.

I use pins on things like Afghan squares when I need to find the middle and count out to start the square. I haven't got any particularly special pins, just quite long glass headed ones in a number of colours (in fact they came with my sewing box). I'm too impatient to grid, so they work quite well for me as once I have my start point, I just take the pins out and carry on stitching.

I occasionally use sewing pins to mark squares when counting long distances as well. Didn't even know they had special pins for that. I learn so much here.

I use counting pins for the same reason as Lessa54. I bought a set from Aion designs just before they closed down. but using long glass headed pins would work just as well.