Trefoil Picot Edging (crochet)
With St. Patrick's Day coming up, we thought it befitting to teach you the trefoil picot edging! Trefoil is from the Latin word trefolium meaning "three-leaved plant". One of our most common backyard plants (which is in a group of plants considered to be shamrocks), is Trefolium Repens or white clover. In Irish it is called seamair bhán.
Here are some examples of shamrocks. The first picture is of the white clover flower. The second is of its instantly recognizible foliage, and the third is of another variety considered to be a shamrock: Oxalis acetosella also known as "wood sorrel".
Instructions:
To start the Trefoil Picot, you will need to insert your crochet hook, from front to back, into the piece on which you are planning to put the picot edging (picture number 1). Next you wrap the yarn around the crochet hook (picture number 2) and draw the yarn through the hole, creating a loop on your hook (picture number 3).
After pulling the yarn through to make a loop, you will need to wrap the yarn around the crochet hook again (picture number 4) and draw it through the loop on the hook (picture number 5). Insert your hook into the next available stitch, to the left, on the piece and wrap the yarn and draw it through again (as illustrated in pictures 2 and 3). Now you will have two loops on your hook (picture number 6). Now wrap the yarn around the hook again and draw the yarn through both loops. Repeat these steps once more so that you have worked three stitches.
Now that you have all three stitches (picture number 7 [dont worry, you haven't missed anything. This picture was taken further along in the project]), you're going to chain 3 (picture number 8). If you are new to crochet, this means that you are going to wrap the yarn around your hook, and draw it through the loop that is currently on your hook, then wrap the yarn around the hook again and draw it through the loop you just made, and once more wrap the yarn around the hook and draw it through the last loop you made (it will make a chain of 3) without attaching it to any stitch on the piece. Now that you have your chain of 3, insert your hook, from front to back, into the same hole (in other words, do not advance to the next empty stitch on the finished piece). Wrap the yarn around your hook and draw it through (you will have two loops on your hook). Now wrap the yarn around the hook again and draw it through the two loops on the hook (picture number 9).
You have just made the first of the three lobes of this picot stitch. Now, on to the second lobe. Chain 7 (picture number 10), insert your hook into the same hole as before, wrap the yarn around and draw the yarn through, wrap the yarn again and draw through both loops ( picture number 11). This attaches the second, and largest lobe. Next, chain three and attach in the same hole as you did for the first and second lobes (picture number 12). Your first picot is finished (picture number 13). Repeat this process, starting with three stitches, then the picot into the third stitch, three stithches, then the picot into the third stitch and so on until you have gone all the way around (or across, if you are working on a flat piece).
The example above is done with yarn and a larger hook (it's a Victorian bone crochet hook. I'm not sure what size it is) Here is a quick example of what the Trefoil Picot looks like when done with a smaller hook and crochet thread:
Hope you've enjoyed the tutorial, let us know if you have any questions!