Star-Stitch Crochet Shawl (1911): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) fingering wool for the centre — approximate; the original was 8 oz of 4-ply fingering wool
• Super fine (CYC #1) fingering wool for the border — approximate; the original was 3½ oz of 2-ply fingering wool
• Fine crochet silk or size 10 crochet cotton for the edging — the original was 1 ball of crochet silk
• A large crochet hook for the centre (the book says only “slightly thicker than a slate pencil”) and a fine hook for the silk edge (original: No. 10)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with about 7 mm (US K-10½) for the centre and about 1.5 mm (US steel 7) for the silk edge — both approximate; the book describes the large hook only as “slightly thicker than a slate pencil”, so match the open star fabric of the photograph

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

sk

skip

sp

space

lp

loop

row

row

FO

fasten off

Notes before you start

• Source: "Crochet Shawl" (No. 56), What to Make for Baby, Part One (Ella Allan), Mrs Ella Allan's Publications; printed by The Specialty Press Pty. Ltd., Melbourne. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: 8 oz. 4-ply, and 3½ oz. 2-ply fingering wool; 1 ball crochet silk; Large hook (slightly thicker than a slate pencil); No. 10 hook for silk edge. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own “Explanation of Crochet Stitches” page, not by name — the key is a British one, so every stitch is renamed here: chain = ch; “single crochet” (“put hook through work at stitch indicated; draw thread through work and through loop on needle at same time. This is sometimes called Slip Stitch.”) = modern slip stitch (sl st); “double crochet” (d c: insert the hook, thread over and draw through making 2 loops, thread over and draw through both) = modern single crochet (sc); “treble” (tr: thread over, insert, draw through making 3 loops, thread over through 2, thread over through the remaining 2) = modern double crochet (dc); “double treble” (thread over twice) = modern treble (tr); “long treble” (thread over three times) = modern double treble (dtr). The heights are confirmed by the book's own turning chains — it turns a d c row with 2 ch and a treble row with 3 ch — so nothing here rests on the names alone.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: ch = ch, d c = sc, tr = dc, st(s) = st(s); “miss” = sk; “wool over” / “thread over” = yo; “needle” (used for the crochet hook as well as the knitting needle) = hook; “hole” (the space under a chain) = ch-sp or sp; “break off” / “fasten off” = FO; “repeat” = rep. Ordinal names (“1st Row”, “2nd Round”) are written Row 1, Rnd 1; where the book calls a circuit of a round piece a “row” its own word is kept. The book's words “shell”, “group”, “cluster”, “tuft”, “star”, “eye” and “picot” are kept as printed, each with the book's own definition given at first use.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts are unchanged. Section headings added for navigation.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are printed only as Strathnoid numbers (No. 10, 12, 13, 14) — a proprietary sizing with no diameters printed — or as “fine hook”, “fine steel crochet hook” or “large hook”. No exact metric size can be read from the book, so the suggested modern hook is an approximate starting point chosen for the yarn and tied to any printed measurement.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed anywhere in the book. Work a swatch and match any printed measurement (repeated in the modern gauge line) before starting.
• Modernisation note: The yarns are 1911 Australian trade names with no exact modern equivalent, and the book prints no yardage and no ball or skein weights. The CYC weights given are approximations only, to be matched by gauge or measurement rather than by weight: 2-ply fingering as super fine (CYC #1); 3-ply and 4-ply fingering, 4-ply “Lady Betty” and Andalusian wool as fine (CYC #2); “Ivorine” wool as a fine baby wool (CYC #2, approximate — the book gives no ply for it); crochet silk and “jumper silk” as a fine thread rather than a yarn. “Ivorine” and “Lady Betty” are brand names, not colours or fibre descriptions.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurements, ages or sizes are printed for this design; the figures given are the book's own stitch and row counts and any lengths it prints.
• Modernisation note: Check: no year is printed in the book. The title page gives only the title, “57 designs in knitting and crochet”, “Part One”, the author and the Melbourne printer; the cover instead says “55 designs in knitting or crochet”. The year 1911 is the date recorded for this scan, which notes that it is approximate.
• Modernisation note: The book's photographs are black and white and this design's colour is not printed, so the colour given is read from the photograph only.
• Modernisation note: Star stitch is the book's own stitch, defined on its key page and quoted here as the first steps; the shawl's own opening row (drawing the yarn through 4 stitches, then through all 5 loops) is the same stitch worked on the foundation chain.
• Modernisation note: The hook for the centre is described only by comparison — “slightly thicker than a slate pencil” — which is the book's only indication of size anywhere for a large hook; the modern suggestion is an approximation from that description and the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Check: the border is worked around the shawl, but the book numbers its rounds “Rows”; its own word is kept.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book does not say how many stitches to pick up along each side for the first border row, only to increase “at corners always”.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.
• Modernisation note: Finishing lines (weaving in ends, blocking) added.