Turban-Shape Cap for Football (1890): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine silk thread (the original was Japanese silk): 1 ball of gold and 1 ball of black, or club colours; ball size not printed
• Steel crochet hook (original: steel crochet needle No. 12)
• Lining fabric, a strip of leather for the edge, a button to cover; silk tassel for a smoking cap
• Hook: Start with about 1.5 mm (US steel 8); the book's "steel crochet needle, No. 12" is on a period steel gauge with no reliable metric match, and no gauge is printed — work to the 6½–7 in (16.5–18 cm) diameter

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rnd

round

rep

repeat

inc

increase

Notes before you start

• Source: "Cap, Turban-Shape, for Football, Etc. (No. 8)" (No. 8), The Book of Hats and Caps, Faudel, Phillips & Sons, 1890. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Japanese Silk, using black and gold, or any of the colours required for clubs; a ball of gold Japanese silk, one of black, a steel crochet needle, No. 12. 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 and UK "treble" as dc; "join … by a single" written as "join … with a sl st", following the book's definition of single crochet in No. 4.
• Modernisation note: Section headings (Centre, Pattern, Band) and the label Rnds 1–2 for the first two gold rounds added; the book numbers the next round "3rd round".
• Modernisation note: Check: the stitch used for the black centre ("work round and round, increasing to keep flat, until you have 32 stitches") is not stated; presumably sc.
• Modernisation note: Check: the raised round (Rnd 3) is hard to follow as printed — "In the 1st stitch work * 2 double crochet, 1 in the 2nd, take up the 2nd double crochet in the 1st of these 3 rounds, work 4 treble in it, join the 1st and 4th of these long stitches together by a single". It appears to describe a group of 4 dc worked down into the first gold round and closed with a sl st; the repeat spacing is not printed. Kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the round turns ("work 2 rounds of double crochet; turn") but no other turning is mentioned. Kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: "with no decreasings" for the band presumably means with no increasing (the top is increased, the band is worked straight). Kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.