No. 237 Crocheted Belt with Popcorns (1915): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• A heavy, hard-twisted cotton crochet cord — the book says only “a heavy hard cord”, with no size
• Steel or fine aluminium crochet hook — the book prints no hook for this design
• Four button moulds for the crocheted buttons
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 2 mm (US steel 4) — approximate and not printed; change size until the belt is firm and stands up

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

pc

popcorn

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

BLO

back loop only

FLO

front loop only

Notes before you start

• Source: "No. 237. Belt" (No. 237), Clark's Crochet Book, Miller-Clark Designing Company, St. Joseph, Missouri, 1915. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Use a heavy hard cord for belt, as it stands up better.; Four crocheted buttons. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own key (“Key to Terms Used in This Book”, book page 2), not by name. The key defines: chain (ch); slip stitch (sl-st), drawing the thread through the stitch and the loop on the needle without throwing thread over; “double (d)” — put the needle through the work, draw a stitch through (2 on the needle), thread over and draw through both, which is the modern US single crochet; “treble (tr)” — thread over, put the needle through, draw a stitch through (3 on the needle), thread over and draw through 2, thread over and draw through the 2 remaining, which is the modern US double crochet; “double treble (dtr)” — thread over twice, cast off three times, the modern US treble; “triple treble (ttr)” — thread over three times, cast off four times, the modern US double treble. So throughout this transcription d = sc, tr = dc, dtr = tr and ttr = dtr. This book is one of the 1915 US books that uses the older British heights, so its “treble” must not be read as a modern treble.
• Modernisation note: The book's shorthand is written in modern US form: ch = ch, sl-st = sl st, d = sc, tr = dc, dtr = tr, ttr = dtr, p = picot, pc = popcorn, cl = cluster, st(s) = st(s); “miss” = sk; “thread over (the hook)” = yo; “join” at the end of a circuit = sl st to join. Ordinal row names (“1st Row”, “2nd Row”) are written Row 1, Row 2 and so on; where the book calls a circuit of a piece worked in the round a “row”, it is written Rnd and the change is noted in the section heading.
• Modernisation note: Picot (p) is the book's own: chain 3, 4 or 5 as you like, insert the hook in the first of those chains, thread over and draw through the chain stitch and the stitch on the hook. A triple picot is three picots in succession. Picots are written out as picots, with the book's chain count wherever it is printed.
• Modernisation note: Popcorn (pc) is the book's own: 5 trebles (modern dc) in the same stitch, withdraw the hook, insert it in the top of the first treble and then in the fifth, thread over and draw through both stitches, chain 1 to tighten.
• 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 steel hook numbers (No. 8, No. 10 and No. 11 are the only ones named in the book) with no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from it. The metric sizes given are approximate starting points read across to the modern US steel-hook scale, in which a higher number is finer; work a swatch and change size to match the photograph.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design — the book prints no gauge anywhere. Work a swatch and change hook size until the work lies flat and matches the photograph.
• Modernisation note: The book's “catch only the back part of stitches” and “catching the front of the st” are the back loop and the front loop; both are listed in the abbreviations, and the book's own wording is kept in the rows.
• Modernisation note: The printed “pe” for popcorn is a scanning slip for “pc” and is written popcorn throughout.
• Modernisation note: The printed “$rd Row” is written Row 3.
• Modernisation note: Check: no thread size or hook is printed; the book gives only “a heavy hard cord”.
• Modernisation note: Check: the crocheted buttons are not given directions here; the six button designs printed on book page 27 of the same book may be used.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed; the design photographs as white or ecru.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added where a measurement is printed.