Gentleman’s Sleeping Boots No. 570 (1919): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) wool yarn, used double throughout — the original was Utopia Shetland Floss: 4 skeins of Print Color and 1 skein of Blue (Alice Blue recommended)
• Crochet hook (original: No. 4)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 5 mm (US H-8) for the doubled yarn and change size so the boot fits (no gauge is printed)

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

hdc

half double crochet

dc

double crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

inc

increase

Notes before you start

• Source: "Gentleman’s Sleeping Boots of Print Color and Blue Utopia Shetland Floss, No. 570" (No. 570), Utopia Yarn Book: Being a Practical Treatise on Knitting and Crocheting (Fourteenth Edition), Henry E. Frankenberg Co., New York, 1919. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: 4 skeins Print Color Yarn. 1 skein Blue (Alice Blue best). Crochet Hook, No. 4. Work to be done with double thread.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own definitions ("Explanation of Terms Used in Crocheting"), not by name: s. c. ("insert hook in ch. or st., draw the wool through, over, and draw through both loops on hook") = modern US sc; h. d. c. (over, insert, draw a loop through, over, draw through the three loops) = hdc; d. c. (over, insert, draw a loop through, over and through two loops twice) = dc; t. c. / treble crochet ("over twice", then through two loops three times) = tr; sl. st. (insert, over, draw through st and loop on hook) = sl st; ch. = ch; "over" = yo. For these stitches the 1919 American names already match modern US usage, so no stitch changes height.
• Modernisation note: This design is printed in the book's compressed shorthand ("wk." work, "e." each/every, "r./rs." row(s), "inc./dcr." increase/decrease, "cro." crochet, "y." yarn, "cen." center, "fr." front, "gr./grs." group(s), "rd./rds." ridge(s), "sp./sps." space(s), "re." repeat, "patt." pattern, "pl." plain, "cir." circle, "che." chenille, "col." color, and color abbreviations such as "pk." pink, "wh." white, "bl." blue); these are spelled out.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation where the text runs on.
• Modernisation note: Hook numbers (bone, ivory, amber/celluloid No. 1–5) refer to the book's own illustrated scale of 1919 hooks, which pictures the hooks but prints no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from the book. The suggested modern hook is a starting point chosen for the yarn weight.
• Modernisation note: Utopia yarns are 1919 trade names with no exact modern equivalent. The modern CYC weight given is an approximation only: Utopia Shetland Floss was a soft, fine, lofty 2-ply wool (treated here as fine, CYC #2); Utopia Alpaca and Llama wools, and the Worsted and Silk Mixture, as light (CYC #3); Utopia Germantown (zephyr) as light (CYC #3) and 8 Fold Germantown as medium (CYC #4); Scotch Knitting Yarn/Worsted as medium (CYC #4); 3 Fold Saxony as super fine (CYC #1). Yardage is never printed — the book gives skeins, balls or hanks only, and their weight is not stated.
• Modernisation note: "Pr. col." (Print Color) and "bl. w." (blue wool) spelled out; "t. sl. st." written as "tight sl st". Print Color is taken to be a Shetland Floss shade, as the design heading names Print Color and Blue Utopia Shetland Floss.
• Modernisation note: Row numbers for the vamp (Rows 2–13) are inferred from "wk. 13 rs. for vamps" and the printed "14th r."; whether Row 1 is one of the 13 is not stated.
• Modernisation note: Check: "cro. through top ch. on e. st." is not explained further; it may mean working through both top loops. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: "last r. 20 sts." — how the 40 sts become 20 is not printed. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: how the cords are made is not printed.