Picots -- am I doing something wrong?

[Stacey]

I've never made picots before now. I'm doing the final round of a doily that has pointy bits with picots all around the edge, and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. The instructions say to ch4, sl st into 1st ch for the picot. And that's what I'm doing, but...

 

I work into chains funny. Backwards, I guess--I work into the back ridge instead of the top two loops. I have the hardest time doing it the right way, so I just do it wrong It's never made a noticeable difference before, and it actually leaves a nicer bottom edge if I'm doing something like a dishcloth that I don't plan on putting any edging on.

 

Anyway. In each point I'm doing 2dc, picot, 2dc and the picots have a tiny horizontal bar of thread underneath them. I'm thinking that after blocking it won't be visible (I wrangled it into finished shape to see what it looked like and seemed okay) and DH says he can't see anything. But do the rest of you get a little bar underneath your picots, or am I getting them because I'm working into the chain backwards?

[diamond]

A picot is supposed to look sort of like a little knot on top of the piece. Have you tried to slip stitch in the front of your ch2 and into both loops? I think it might be necessary. I can't picture the 'bar' you are speaking of. Does your picot look ok otherwise? Can you share a picture with us so we can see what you are talking about?

[mythunderbird]

ususally with a picot, it is like ch3 , then sc in 3 ch from hook, ch 3 more, same thing, then chain 3 more and same thing then sc in the space. can be other amounts of course, but i think what your not doing it finishing the picot. do you have a picture that we could see that would show us what you are trying to do:manyheart

[Stacey]

Thanks, both of you It pretty much looks like the picture on the pattern does as far as I can tell, except this little bar of thread underneath (which I suppose could be in the picture on the pattern, it's tiny enough that it wouldn't show. maybe I'm worrying over nothing?).

 

I tried to get a picture but couldn't get one that wasn't all fuzzy. I'll have another go at it in the morning, maybe see if I can blow the picture up enough that it shows it...while I'm at it I'll poke around my blog (I know I have a link to the pattern in there but it's not in my bookmarks), and I'll post back tomorrow with more info.

[dixieredhead]

i had trouble with picots at first too. i found that after you ch 4 when you insert your hook in the 1st ch make sure you go through both loops of the stitch. twoo loops will be on top of your hook as you go on, and one loop will be behind it, wrap thread over hook and pull up a loop with your thread and draw through all loops on hook. it will draw the picot tighter and make the stitches look clean. it wont take long and youll be a pro! hope that helps some too.

[Stacey]

I've tried a bunch of times to get a photo, but this camera (old, no zoom, low resolution) just can't take a clear photo as close as I'd need to be able to get any detail on it, unfortunately.

 

Stacey, I'll try that, working through the chain the right way instead of my usual way and see if it helps. (Had to frog everything I've done on this round so far anyway, since I realized that in the spaces between the pointy bits where I was supposed to ch5, sc, ch5, I was doing ch4 half the time because the ch4 for the picots was throwing me off and making me forget how many chains to do!)

 

But argh! I hate working into the front part of the chain! I think I'll be avoiding picots in the future LOL

[Aggie May]

You do realise that you can do the row without the picot?

You will just get a bit less of a point.

Do the 4 CH then leave out the bit where you slip stitch into the 1st CH and just go on to the next instruction.

Patterns can be changed, as long as you do not change the important bits, you can leave out bits and add in bits as you like. It is called Artistic License.

Leave the Picot off and you will enjoy your crochet much more.

Have fun.

Colleen:hug

[Stacey]

Now there's a thought! I did go back and do all those picots the right way, and they came out fine--I guess that's one of those few times when working into the back ridge of the chain will make things come out all wonky.

 

But right now I'm looking at another doily pattern that ends with a round of picots, and I think I'd rather take a sharp stick to the eye than do that many picots in a row again so soon I think I'll go ahead with the pattern but see how that last round looks without the picots...

[RebeccaVelasquez]

i know what you mean about going into the back bar instead of 2 loops... i do it too

i just made a snowflake with picots, did this and had no problem with them. have you tried making the pictos smaller?

try doing a ch 3 or 4.... make them a bit smaller and see what you think

[Chie]

I do it the same way with you, Stacey and Rebecca.

 

I know exactly what you are talking about, Stacey.

When I have to make a picot by going through a chain, I crochet that first chain more tightly than the rest of the 3. You will still have the bar of thread underneath the picot, but it should be less noticeable.

 

Hope that helps!

[Stacey]

Cool, I thought I was the only one who does it that way! Next time I'll give those ideas a try and see what happens.

 

Maybe I should start a poll in "Other Crochet Topics" to see how many of us crochet like this!