Surplice Sweater with Round Collar No. 823 (1919): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool-blend yarn — the original was Utopia Llama Wool, 10 balls of Maize (shade 3658)
• Fine (CYC #2) wool yarn for trim — the original was Utopia Shetland Floss, 2 skeins of Black
• Crochet hook (original: ivory hook No. 4)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) and change size so 57 sc with ch 1 between measure about 20 in (51 cm), and 130 rows measure 22 in (56 cm), as printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

sl st

slip stitch

sk

skip

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

inc

increase

dec

decrease

Notes before you start

• Source: "Utopia Surplice Sweater—Round Collar Trimmed with Black Flat Buttons without Moulds, No. 823" (No. 823), 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: 10 balls Maize 3658 Utopia Llama Wool. 2 skeins Black Utopia Shetland Floss. 1 Ivory Crochet Hook, No. 4.. 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: Period abbreviations and wording modernised: s. c., h. d. c., d. c., t. c., sl. st., ch. written as sc, hdc, dc, tr, sl st, ch; "m." written as mesh; "st. of ch." written as "ch" where the stitch is a chain; "wool"/"thread" written as yarn; "needle" (used for the crochet hook) written as hook; "break off yarn" written as "fasten off"; "repeat" written as "rep"; ordinal row names ("Second Row", "Twenty-first Row") written as Row 2, Row 21.
• 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: Size is given only as a 1919 bust size; vintage sizing and ease differ from today's — compare the printed lengths with a garment that fits before starting.
• Modernisation note: The collar's printed groups of rows ("for 2 rows", "on the next 6 rows") are numbered here as Rows 2–27, with the sc row around the front as Row 1; the counts are as printed.
• Modernisation note: "Crochet 1 s. c. in every st., skip 2 s. c. at beginning and end of row" is kept as a skip (the book's own word), which shortens each row.
• Modernisation note: Check: the button list says "Make 20 large buttons" but then gives six sizes and places 12 large buttons at the lower edge plus graduated sizes elsewhere; 20 is probably the total of the largest size needed. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the fifth button size is printed "Ch. 3, skip 1, 12 d. c. in every st." Left as printed; it probably means 12 dc in the next ch.
• Modernisation note: Check: the sleeve section says 50 sc on each sleeve chain plus 56 across the back, making 156 sc, and the shoulders are then worked on 68 sc; the neck opening is not stated. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.