Picot Stitch.
How to make it neat.

A picot stitch is a decorative element which can be used as a finishing stitch or in the body of a pattern. It brings some special charm to a stitch pattern and often is used as a picot edging for the finished project. Picot is a very well-known element, but at the same time it is an additional headache for many crocheters. It just doesn't want to look neat.

The way it looks depends on many things: type of yarn, number of hook, yarn tension. A regular set of factors which have to be watched to make a good job. Meanwhile, there is one more not that well-known fact. A picot can be crocheted at least in three different ways.

Variant 1.

A picot can be made with any number of chains, but the most common is three. To make a picot: chain 3, slip stitch in 3rd chain from hook. The result can be seen at the right side of the picture. Here is another way to crochet it.

Variant 2.

Chain 3, slip stitch into the top of the single crochet where the chain of 3 comes from. The result can be seen at the left side of the picture.

It is a matter of your preferences which variant to choose, but there are three obvious observations about the results of crocheting. You can easily watch them on the picture

• Crocheting in the top of the single crochet (Variant 2 ) produces a better shaped picot.
• A Variant-2 picot is a little bit large than a Variant-1 one.
• It is easier to slip stitch in the top of the single crochet (Variant 2 ) versus making the slip stitch in the 3rd chain.

Variant 3.

This video demonstrates one more way of crocheting picot. A single crochet is used to close a picot ring instead of a slip stitch. Besides that, to make an edge more opened-worked next after a picot single crochet is missing. Let's watch the last variant to crochet a picot stitch.