Tarbuch in Black Silk and Gold (1890): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Very fine black silk crochet thread (the original was fine purse or netting silk): 12 skeins; skein length not printed
• Finest-size metallic gold thread, wound into balls
• Fine steel crochet hook (original: "a fine crochet hook", size not printed)
• Cardboard for blocking; blue satin lining; a large button covered with satin; cardboard 5 in (12.5 cm) long for the tassel
• Hook: Hook size not printed; start with about 1 mm (US steel 12) and change size so the crown lies flat with the two threads carried inside the stitches

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rnd

round

rep

repeat

inc

increase

Notes before you start

• Source: "Tarbuch (No. 6)" (No. 6), The Book of Hats and Caps, Faudel, Phillips & Sons, 1890. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: black netting silk and gold thread; very fine purse silk, twelve skeins; Japanese or Chinese gold thread, the finest size, wind this in balls; a fine crochet hook. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Victorian British stitch names converted to modern US terms. The book defines "single crochet" (in No. 4, the Dundee Bonnet: "the needle in the next stitch, draw the wool through and through the loop on the hook"), which is a modern slip stitch, so "single crochet" and "single" are written as sl st. The book gives no definition for "double crochet" or "treble", so the standard UK→US conversion is applied: UK double crochet = US single crochet (sc); UK treble = US double crochet (dc).
• Modernisation note: Period wording modernised: "wool" written as "yarn"; "needle" (meaning the crochet hook) written as "hook"; "unite" written as "join with a sl st"; "plain" rounds (no increasing) written as "work even"; "the wool on the needle" written as "yo"; "rows" written as "rounds" where the work is in rounds; "receipt" written as "pattern".
• Modernisation note: Period yarn names (Peacock Fingering, Eider, Andalusian, Japanese silk, netting/purse silk) have no exact modern equivalent; the modern yarn weight given is an approximation based on how these yarns were described at the time.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed; the book sizes its caps by measurement (diameter or head size) instead.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order unchanged.
• Modernisation note: UK "double crochet" written as sc; all colour counts ("black", "gold") are sc stitches of that colour. "Unite" written as "join with a sl st".
• Modernisation note: The two-colour instructions printed within Round 2 are given as a separate "Colour Technique" section before the rounds; the Round 2 example is kept in its round.
• Modernisation note: Section headings (Crown — Star, Crown — Powdered Ground) added; "Border" and "Tassel" are printed headings.
• Modernisation note: Hook size is not printed; the suggested size is ours and approximate.
• Modernisation note: Check: Rounds 53–54 are printed only as "Repeat these 3 rounds twice more; increase until you have 360 stitches"; their content (presumably black, as Rounds 35–36) and the increase rate are not printed. Kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the star rounds are counted per division (10 divisions), without totals. From Round 17 on, the printed black counts describe the growing black wedge between star points; follow the stitches below rather than the totals.
• Modernisation note: Check: in the border, several rounds do not add up to exactly 360 sts with their repeat and the printed start and end (Rounds 3, 5, 6, 10, 14–17, 19 and 20 fall a few sts short or over, and Rounds 8, 11 and 12 have a repeat that is not 15 sts). Kept as printed; align each motif with the round below.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.