and need something for a quick project? Well, try this trick, it works superbly for medium sized even picots and won't cost you a thing (most people already have them on hand) .... take a regular cotton swab, q-tip or any brand, and cut the ends off. the paper / cardboard ones are better than the plastic ones, because the plastic mashes, however, if you slightly roll the swam while cutting it, like sawing, it doesn't hardly smash at all and you get a perfect medium size temporary picot gauge! if you need a slightly smaller one, you can do the same trick with a round tooth pick, but you have to make sure it is sanded perfectly smooth so it won't catch the thread. I personally stick with the cotton swab, works perfectly :)
Good idea! Personally I only use a gauge when needing to make a VERY long picot which doesn't have beads. Tooooo lazy to go and get one for small picots!!! I'd never even heard of them until I went online and I'd been tatting for a millennium before that without them!!!!
ReplyDeleteClever idea! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI usually use my fingers as a gauge (so I don't necessarily know how to use an official gauge), but this is such a wonderful idea, I might have try it!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I normally don't use one unless it is a project with a lot of picots the same size on a chain, then the picots look sloppy to me if I don't. if there is just a single picot, or say 3 that are meant to be different sizes, I don't use a gauge.
ReplyDeletePersonally I dont use a gauge unless I need very long ones, but this is a great tip.
ReplyDeleteMargaret