The Insertion for a Handsome Runner: vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 30 to 40 white cotton crochet thread in place of the book's Ardern's No. 36 crochet cotton — ours, read across by thread number
• A fine steel hook to suit the thread
• A piece of linen 9 inches by 41 inches (about 23 cm by 104 cm), as the book prints
• Hook: Start with about 1.4 mm (US steel 7) — ours, approximate. The book prints only a maker's thread number and no hook. Change size until the fabric is firm and even.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

sp

space

rep

repeat

row

row

st

stitch

Notes before you start

• Source: "The Insertion", Beautiful Crochet on Household Linen (The Home Art Series, edited by Flora Klickmann), The Office of “The Girl's Own Paper & Woman's Magazine”, 4 Bouverie Street E.C., & 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, London. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: The crochet is done in Ardern's No. 36 Crochet Cotton.; A piece of linen 9 inches wide and 41 inches long.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own printed key and its own printed mesh arithmetic, not by stitch name. This is a BRITISH book. The naming key stands at the head of book page 81 (image p-088.jpg) under “Abbreviations used.” and reads: “Ch = chain ; d c = double crochet ; tr = treble ; S = solid mesh ; O = open mesh.” The book then prints its filet arithmetic at book page 12 (image p-020.jpg) and again at book page 29 (image p-037.jpg): “Each open mesh is made by working 2 ch, 1 tr over 3 ch, and each solid mesh by working 3 tr over 3 ch. Each row should be turned with 5 ch, if the first mesh is an open one, 3 ch if it is solid.” A solid mesh of 3 tr turned with 3 ch can only be built from a stitch three chains tall — the modern US double crochet; a US treble would have required 4 ch and 6 ch. Book page 51 (image p-059.jpg) then names the whole ladder in one breath — “3 d c, 3 l tr, 6 tr, 6 htr, 6 d c” — giving d c, htr, tr, l tr, which is the British ladder and maps onto the modern US sc, hdc, dc, tr; book page 59 works the classic Irish rose petal as “1 d c, 1 tr, 6 l tr, 1 tr, 1 d c”. The book's “s c”, the old British single crochet, is the flat catching-back and joining stitch and is written sl st. So here: d c = sc, htr = hdc, tr = dc, l tr = tr, s c = sl st, miss = sk.
• Modernisation note: This design is printed as a filet count: O is an open mesh and S is a solid mesh, and the book's own arithmetic for them is quoted in the terms note above. The counts are reproduced exactly as printed, in the book's own O and S notation, because that is the form the directions take; they are not expanded into stitch-by-stitch wording, which would mean rewriting the design rather than transcribing it. Every row in this design was read back off the page image and the meshes in each row add up to the width the design starts with.
• Modernisation note: Where the book numbers its rows it does so as “1st Row.”, “2nd Row.” and so on, often with the directions running as a solid paragraph across two columns. They are split here into one row or step per line and the ordinals are written Row 1, Row 2, Row 3. Where a heading introduces a fresh numbered sequence inside the same design, that sequence is kept under its own section heading exactly as the book groups it. Stitch order and counts are unchanged.
• Modernisation note: The scan of this book carries the usual optical-reading slips and every figure below was read back against the page image: the scan's “lst” and “Ist” are 1st, its “8rd” is 3rd, its “2Qnd” is 2nd, its “38rd” is 3rd, its “llth” is 11th, its “de” and “doe” and “dec” for a stitch are d c, its “ltr” is l tr, its “Ghtr” is 6 htr, its “ir” is tr, its “tims” and “turh” and “tiuith” are turn, its “Sanie” is Same, its “wotk” is work, its “miss3 ch” is miss 3 ch, and in the filet counts its “0” is the letter O and its “5” and “8” are frequently the letter S. These are scanning artefacts, not printed errors, and they are corrected silently in the rows; genuine PRINTED slips are a different matter and are always flagged with a “Check:” note instead of being quietly mended.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are printed only as period British maker's numbers (“a No. 44 Hook”) or not at all, with no diameters, and those numbers do not map onto the modern scale. Any metric size given in the modern materials is ours and is a starting point only.
• Modernisation note: No gauge, tension or stitch-per-inch figure is printed for this design, or for any design in this book. Work a sample and change hook size to suit the thread.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is estimated. The book never prints a ball length, a reel length or a quantity for any design — it names a thread and sometimes a hook and nothing more — so there is no printed basis for a yardage figure and none is invented here.
• Modernisation note: Thread brands are listed exactly as printed. Ardern's, Star Sylko, Peri-Lusta and Manlove's were the British cotton and linen brands the book's readers bought; the higher the number the finer the thread, on the same principle as modern crochet cotton sizing. Where the book names a size, that size is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: This design is a trimming for household linen and the book assumes a linen article to work it on or sew it to. Where the book prints a linen measurement it is given above; where it does not, none is supplied here.
• Modernisation note: The book's naming key for this design stands at the head of book page 81 and is quoted in full in the terms note above; it is the clearest printed key in the book.
• Modernisation note: Row 1 is printed in longhand — “1 tr, 2 ch, 1 tr, 2 ch, i.e., 3 open spaces ; 13 tr, i.e., 4 solid meshes” — because it is the foundation row, and the book then switches to O and S notation for the rest. Both forms are kept exactly as printed.
• Modernisation note: Every row totals eight meshes, which is the width the band starts with; that was checked row by row against the page image.
• Modernisation note: The three framing rows are printed after the pattern without a heading of their own and with their numbering restarting at “2nd Row”. They are given a heading here and their printed numbering is left alone, because renumbering them would misrepresent the page.
• Modernisation note: The linen measurement is the book's own printed figure; the metric conversion is ours.