Crochet Picots You Can Love

Cute picots border every edge
of the Liebling Shrug.

A picot is a decorative little bump of crochet stitches that adds just the right touch to many kinds of crochet projects, often as a finished edge. It's smaller than a bobble, puff, or cluster; ideally it's a cozy little knot that's "cute as a button."

Check out the cute bowtie picots along this shoulder seam!

I've heard many crocheters say that they don't like the look of their picots. After crocheting for 30 years or so, I can say that no matter how many picots one has under one's belt, the next one may look mediocre for a number of reasons that are easy to fix. 

Rosepuff Shawlette's bead-picot edge

The first thing I do is try my favorite way to make them, below. It comes the closest to producing a fail-safe picot, with the added bonus of being the fastest and smoothest stitching motion for me (keeps the picots from feeling like "speed bumps" LOL). 

Vashti's Favorite Way to Crochet Picots

I used this method for the Liebling Shrug and the flounced Antoinette, Emdash, and Cantina scarves. In fact, I talked about this picot method in this blog post about the picot lace sleeves of the Baroque Tabard.

Insert the hook from the top down into two front loops of the "host" stitch (the last stitch made before chaining 3 or 4 to start the picot). This "host" stitch can be any stitch except a slip stitch; a vertical "bar" or "leg" of the stitch is needed to comfortably and swiftly work into. 

The 1,380 Cashmere Picots Scarf.
(The edge is a mix of picots & petals.)

It's so easy to do it, but the words can make it sound difficult. 

Depending on the look (which sometimes has to do with the yarn, or my hook size), I might close with a single crochet (sc) worked into these two loops, OR a slip stitch (sl st). Either way, I love how it stabilizes a picot with a stronger base, and it's is easier to make quickly. Closing with a sc instead of sl st can add more bulk if the picots seem puny. 

When I've chosen *against* this method, such as for the 1,380 Cashmere Picots Scarf, it can be because the picot comes out looking blockish sometimes. Also sort of flat or less of a pearly 3-D knot. Each case is different.

Picot foundation for the
1,380 Cashmere Picots Scarf.

I always try out a range of ways to make picots no matter what the pattern or stitch dictionary says.

For example:

• Chain 4 instead of 3 (most people chain 3)
• Heck, try chaining 2 and then close with a sc (usually makes a little molehill)
• Chain tightly. Or, loosely.
• Close it with a sc if you tried a sl st.
• If you work into the first chain of the picot chains, try working into different loops of that chain.



I used a subtle type of picot for Lotus Chip Charms.

• Invent-A-Picot: I wonder what happens if you chain 1 then do a 2-hdc puff in the top of the stitch just before the chain-1?

I hope each crocheter explores alternate ways to make picots so that each of us always gets the kind that we want!

Choosing Cotton Thread for Crochet Jewelry

Four Mermaid Chains, four brands of crochet thread!
Top right and bottom left corner is #10 Opera thread.
See a lovely variegated #20 Lizbeth one.

I have a handsome stash of a fine quality cotton crochet thread called Opera, ranging in sizes from #5 (approaching "fingering" weight") to #30.

The larger the number, the thinner the thread. Size #30 might look like sewing thread to some folks compared to size #10, but sewing thread is closer to a size #100 or #120.

I use Opera crochet thread mostly for crocheting jewelry. The jewelry I've made with it stays looking great longer because of its high quality cotton fiber, the higher twist, and smooth finish.

Opera is made by Coats, though regrettably I must now say WAS made by Coats. (It's discontinued.) What to do?

I've been having great luck with a crochet thread called Lizbeth. While maybe nothing can replace Opera thread for me completely, the Lizbeth color choices are great fun! Best of all Lizbeth is a six-cord thread (see below).

From the Slider Charms Trio 
pattern set.

What I Look For in a Crochet Thread

I used Lizbeth Size #10 for the green & brown
Sweet Almonds Set. 

Especially for jewelry.

1. The higher the amount of twist, the better. (Known as a hard twist.) It will stay looking new longer and will hold its shape well.
2. The number of plies matters--the more, the better. Threadies will refer to a thread as a "3-cord" or a "6-cord". Perle cotton is a "2-cord" thread. I've seen 6-cord threads referred to as "cordonnet" and heirloom-quality. Generally speaking, 6-cord is great for jewelry--at least, the kind that I like to design. Opera is an extra nice 3-cord thread, so that's why I say generally speaking.
3. The quality of the cotton used. One can't always tell by look and feel because the fibers can have finishes added that give it a smoother, denser, shinier look on the ball. After some use, a lower-quality thread will get fuzzy or hairy, indicating that cheaper, shorter fiber lengths were used.
4. Pretty colors! (Some of the best threads have traditionally been available in only white, off-white, and black.)

The best crochet threads for jewelry seem to be imported. Although your local yarn shop likely has a good selection of imported yarns, very few yarn shops carry heirloom-quality crochet thread.

Where to find great thread for jewelry? A few years ago I wrote "mainly on the internet if you live in the USA", but today it's easy to find Lizbeth thread in craft stores too. 

Learn how & why I developed this stitch pattern
to do planned color pooling with Lizbeth thread.

Occasionally I see DMC Cordonnet (an excellent thread) in a craft chain store, but only in white in a size #50 or crazier thinner (for tatting). I wonder if it's easy to tint with dyes....

Standard Necklace Lengths

I keep a list of standard necklace lengths handy when I write crochet jewelry patterns.

Satin Pillows Necklace is opera length.
(Coincidentally, I crocheted some of them with Opera thread.)

Trailing Vines is lariat length

Collar: 12" – 13"

(30.48 cm – 33 cm)

Choker: 14" – 16"

(36.5 cm – 41.5 cm)

Princess: 17" – 19"

(43 cm – 48 cm)

Matinee: 20" – 24"

(51 cm – 61 cm)

Opera: 25" – 34"

(64.5 cm – 87.5 cm)

Rope: 35" – 44"

(89 cm – 112 cm)

Lariat: 45" – 48"

(114 cm – 122 cm)

What's "Hook-Led Gauge"? Why is it Important?

Use extra-fine lace weight alpaca yarn and
a big Tunisian crochet hook. for the
Convertible Smokestack Vest

2018 Update: I revised this post and created a permanent page for it at my new website.

Learning how to let your crochet hook determine your stitch gauge is possibly the most valuable skill a crocheter could develop.

Why?

A hook-led gauge is necessary for making fashionable-looking crochet fabrics with dramatic drape and textures. Sometimes I think of it as "crocheting with air" -- that's how it might feel to use a very big crochet hook with a fine or very stretchy yarn.

It comes in handy when making Love Knots and other intermediate-level stitches that depend on being able to "eyeball" a loop size.

You'll be ahead of the curve if you'd like to someday crochet professionally as a teacher, designer or as a valuable pattern tester for other designers!

Weightless Tunisian Wrap

It breaks a habit that many crocheters develop: they make their chains and slip stitches tighter than their other stitches, regardless of their hook size. 

The Eva Slip Stitch Shrug

Sometimes the crocheter simply crochets much more tightly or loosely no matter what size hook they're using. Other crocheters are actually using the yarn as a gauge guide. Crocheters who are used to using a lot of cotton yarn or thread, which is not stretchy to work with, tend to do this.

Every crocheter starts out with a natural gauge, often called the "crocheter's hand." With enough practice, crocheters can have more control over their natural stitch gauge. This is actually an intermediate skill that leads to advanced crocheting, although it's not listed in any of the standard skill level descriptions.

To maintain the best stitch gauge throughout, use the diameter of your hook to judge if your stitches are the right size: as you crochet, the space between the two top loops of each stitch should look large enough to fit the size of the crochet hook you're using. 

The stretchy slip stitch Pullover Shrug

Starwirbel Cowl. See newsletter 
issue #60 for more.

You might feel a bit outside of your comfort zone at first. If so, just tell yourself that you're making an important investment in your hobby: a world of exciting new stitches and designs will open up to you.

My Favorite Way to Add A Professional Look FAST

2018 Update: I revised this post and created a permanent page for it at my new website. Also see issue #26 of my Crochet Inspirations Newsletter, "Creative Stitch Blocking".

I give it spritz so I can drape it on the mannequin and
see if I should keep going! "Tripuff Tunic"
in DesigningVashti Lotus yarn.

I'm going to describe a "finishing technique" but I don't wait until the end of a project to do it. It is usually called "blocking"...but this is only one blocking method of many. 

I'm talking about the power of mist. Not steam, not water, not a special soaking liquid, just low-tech plain cool water mist!

It's an essential tool in our project bags along with scissors, and yarn needles for weaving in ends. 

Ten ways I use plain mist first and sometimes exclusively with crochet:

pre-blocked Tunisian Islander Wrap

 1) When I want to see how the project might look when finished but I don't want to wet it and have to wait more than 15 minutes for it to dry. I mist it enough on a flat surface so that as I pat it out evenly, I see and feel that the stitches are relaxing and socializing with each other nicely.

2) For solid stitch patterns like Tunisian Simple Stitch, or single crochet, post stitch patterns, etc., I mist a bit after I work 12 inches or more of the project so that I can see the fabric look its most sleek, flat, and even. It's a boost for me to see my stitches look so good.

Tunisian Islander Wrap 
after simple blocking.

3) When I start with the inside end of a new ball of yarn and it's too crinkled. I mist the stitches to see if the crimps are distorting my gauge. Or, I pull out enough of the yarn from the ball, wind it loosely over a chair or something, and mist it lightly so that it relaxes the wrinkles enough that I can crochet it comfortably in 15 minutes or so.

4) To renew my confidence or excitement in a lace project. I want to see its real beauty as I go! It was great for the Weightless Tunisian Wrap.

The Eilanner Shawl:
diagonal crochet loves to be blocked.

5) To learn more about an expensive yarn that may be delicate. Mist is very gentle. I choose expensive yarns for their beauty, so I mist a swatch of one to get a preview of the full finished beauty of the stitch pattern I'm using. I can also see if it sheds easily, if it goes limp and flat, if it gives off dye, has a strong smell, etc.

6) To make minor adjustments in the fit of clothing.

7) To avoid re-doing a seam or edging if possible. Mist might be all it needs to look smooth and make the stitches play nicely with each other.

8) Mist may be enough to make picots, corners and angles look crisp and pressed. I mist, stretch, pat, press it with my fingers like it's dough until it's the way I want it, then let dry.

9) When I swatch with a yarn that's new to me and it's unexpectedly stiff. It's amazing how a little mist will bring out a yarn's true personality! Especially linen, hemp, cotton yarns.

Tunisian crochet lace, unblocked.

10) When I mist a swatch with any yarn while designing, I can get a quick sense for whether I'm on the right track: how good a stitch pattern looks in the yarn, whether I think I should go up or down a hook size, and how much the stitches might stretch out or grow.

     I know that many crocheters (and knitters) don't block their work because they simply don't want to! It sounds optional, or boring and time-consuming. Others don't know how, and once we complete a project, we don't want to learn an additional finishing step. We want it to be finished already!

Spritzed with water and spread out.

     I spent most of my life not blocking my crochet. If I liked how my stitches looked, I kept going until I was done. When I was done, it looked fine to me, and that's that. I wasn't crocheting clothes, nor doilies that needed to lie flat and even. When I went through a phase of crocheting every snowflake pattern I could find, it was a new world of wetting, starching, and pinning them evenly so that the lacy stitches looked gorgeous. I hated waiting for them to dry. I did not call this "blocking"–I'm not sure if I knew the word. I thought it was only for snowflakes and doilies. 

     A spray bottle is a crocheter's best friend. I even keep a tiny one in my project bag.