The Clones Knot is a very important stitch in Irish Crochet. You can learn more about the Clones Knot on page 5 of “Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 1” and on page 27-28 of “DMC Irish Crochet Lace” (where the Clones Knot is referred to as Picot in Post Stitch).


I include here a short video of making the Clones Knot. I must admit that it isn’t a very good detailed video, given the limited equipment I have, but the video can at least give some idea of how the stitch is made. I will try to make a more detailed, closer video next time.

To access the video, just click on the image below. (It is in .MOV format and about 8MB in size).

Still image from the video clip. Clones Knot made using steel hook 1mm and cotton thread 8.

Update: Thanks to Eileen and Barb from the Irish Crochet Lovers Group for sending a link to a video of Maire Treanor making the Clones Knot. Eileen notes: “In the last few days Maire Treanor has made available to everyone a video of her making a Clones Knot as taught to her by women who worked and taught in the Lace industry in Ireland around the Clones area in county Monaghan.”

Eileen also notes: “This is the knot that Maire refers to as a bullion style knot. Most books written from 1840’s onward give this form of the knot.”

It is a video worth looking at, clearly showing the technique for making the overs/loops more even. You can see the video (on YouTube) by clicking on the image below.

Making the Clones Knot by Maire Treanor

Here, below is the written instruction I prepared for making the Clones Knot (in the patterns for Lantana and Bougainvillea Flowers).

Ch 7. Holding the ch taut with the thumb and middle finger of the left hand, thread over hook, point the hook towards you and swing it under the chain, catch the thread from under the chain and pull it up – there should now be three loops over the hook (one “over” completed). Make a total of 5 overs. YO and pull thread through all 11 loops on hook, ch 1 to tighten the loops into a knot, sl st in ch at base of knot (Clones Knot completed). Sl St down the ch. Rep from * to make 10 buds. Sl st in ch of first bud stem to make a ring, fasten off.

It can be tricky pulling the thread through all the loops on the hook. I have found that it is easier to do this if I push the overs near the shank of the hook as I make them. This will make the loops of the overs a bit bigger and more even so passing the hook and thread through them will be easier. So don’t work the overs too close to the tip of the hook. Also, when you are about to pull the thread through all the loops, relax your grip on the loops/overs, just let the tip of the hook do all the work of catching the thread and passing it through all the loops. I have found that there’s less chance of the hook getting caught in the overs if you release your grip on them.

And here, below, I include the illustrations and instructions from two antique pattern books showing how to make The Clones Knot.

From page 27-28 of “DMC Irish Crochet Lace” (where the Clones Knot is referred to as Picot in Post Stitch).

The last kind of picot we shall describe is rather more difficult to make than the foregoing ones; namely those in post stitch (fig 65) only employed in the larger and handsomer pieces of work.

According to the number of loops to be mounted should be the length of the chain stitches you begin with, counting 2 loops to every chain stitch.

Making the Clones Knot

Figure 66 shows a picot in the making with 3 loops already mounted on the needle; there you see that you begin by an over, then you pick up a loop of thread under the chain of chain stitches, then make a second over and pick up a second loop and so on.

Generally you make 8 overs and pick up 8 loops; to secure them you make one more over which you draw through the 16 loops and overs, and then with a last over you finish the two last loops left on the needle (see fig 67).

Finally make 1 more plain stitch over the chain stitches that precede the picot (see fig 68).

From page 5 of “Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 1”

The Clones Knot from “Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 1”

Fig 13. The “Clones” Knot. – To work this knot crochet, say, 5 ch sts (more or less according to the thread you are using), put the thread around the needle as if for a treble stitch; pass the hook downwards to the left of the chain and catch up a loop, then make up another loop to the right, continue to catch up loops right and left alternately until you have 14 loops on needle. This will nearly cover the needle and chain with sts. Draw a loop right through all these and then another through the last to draw the knot close together. Make a stitch across the chain so as to encircle it close to the knot. If in drawing up the thread through the stitches the needle should stick, hold the knot between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand and push the hook as far as possible, then pull the stitch on hook through. Unless your needle is nicely shaped, it is impossible to work these knots neatly; and if they are not close and compact, they never look well. Large knots with as many as 20 or 30 loops are much used as a raised ornament. Up the centres of a leaf for example, these large knots have a very pretty appearance.

When learning the knot do not be surprised at many failures at first. The needle is sure to stick sometimes when halfway through, and to refuse to go either backwards or forwards. Do not try too hard to force it through or you will break the thread. It is better to undo the work patiently and begin over again. If you find a needle that works smoothly, it is well to label it and use it for nothing else.

Thank you very much to the Antique Pattern Library for making so many antique books available where the books “Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 1” and “DMC Irish Crochet Lace” may be found.