Small Crocheted Star for a Towel (1916): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Mercerized cotton crochet thread — the book prints no thread number for this star
• Steel crochet hook to suit the thread
• Tapestry needle, for sewing the star to the towel
• Hook: Check: the book prints neither a thread number nor a hook number for this star. Match the hook to whatever thread is used for the towel edge beside it.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

ps

puff stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

sp

space

Notes before you start

• Source: "The stars are worked thus", Clark's O. N. T. Book of Needlework, The Clark Thread Company, Newark, New Jersey, 1916. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: No thread number and no hook number are printed for this star. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own key, read for this book and not assumed from the brand or the year. The abbreviation list is printed on book page 41 under “Abbreviations Used in Crocheting” — “st = stitch; ch = chain stitch; sl st = slip stitch; sc = single crochet; dc = double crochet; tr c = treble crochet; p = picot; d = dot; w st = wound stitch; m = meshes”, with a star that “Means to repeat directions printed between them as many times as stated in each case.” The stitches are then defined in words on book page 42: Single Crochet — “Insert the hook in the foundation chain and draw thread through, catch thread around hook and draw through both loops on hook”, the modern US single crochet; Double Crochet — “Catch thread around hook, insert in chain, draw thread through; catch thread around hook, draw through two loops, thread around hook and draw through last two loops. Always start a d c row with 3 ch in place of the first dc”, the modern US DOUBLE crochet; Treble Crochet — “The treble crochet is made similarly to the double crochet. Start with 4 ch and take thread twice over needle, drawing three times through two”, the modern US treble. So this 1916 book uses modern US heights and no re-lettering is needed: its dc is written dc and its tr c is written tr. This matters because the same firm's 1923 Book No. 19 does the opposite, printing “D c” for a modern half double and “Tr” for a modern double; the two books were checked separately and do not agree.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “needle” and “hook” both mean the hook and are written hook; “thread over needle” = yo; “skip” = sk; “catch”/“fasten” at the end of a circuit = sl st or join, according to what the row is doing; the book's star ★ is written * and “repeat from ★” = rep from *; tr c = tr; sh st = shell stitch. The OCR of this scan prints the ordinal “1st” as “Ist” and the letters c/e interchangeably in places (“de” for “dc”, “se” for “sc”); those quirks are kept in the excerpts and not in the rows.
• Modernisation note: The printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts are unchanged. Section headings added for navigation. Ordinal row names (“1st row”, “2nd row”) are written Row 1, Row 2, and the book's word “row” is kept even where the work goes around, as the book itself does.
• Modernisation note: Clark's O. N. T. crochet cotton numbers are read as roughly equal to the modern crochet thread sizes of the same number — approximate only. The book's own Table of Cotton and Hook Sizes on book page 41 pairs Clark's O. N. T. Crochet Cotton Nos. 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 with Milward's Crochet Hooks Nos. 1 to 14 in that order, and that table is what ties each design's printed hook number to its printed thread.
• Modernisation note: The Milward's hook numbers printed here are 1916 maker's numbers and do not map onto the modern US steel scale, so any metric hook suggested below is ours, read across from the thread size and not printed in the book; the printed hook number is kept in the original materials. The book's own advice on page 41 is to test first: “it is wise to do a little experimenting with the cotton and needle in the sizes suggested in the directions in order to determine that the needle really is the correct size for each individual worker.”
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design. The book prints a stitch count per inch for its two filet yokes only, and those are the squared-diagram designs that are not transcribed here. Work a sample and change hook size until the work lies flat and matches the photograph.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed for this design. The book gives ball counts only for the baby jacket and cap, and no yardage anywhere, so none is estimated here.
• Modernisation note: Picot (p) is the book's own, defined on book page 42: “Make a chain of three or four st as indicated in directions; throw cotton over hook, insert hook into first ch st made and make a single crochet.” The chain count is kept wherever the design prints one.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurement is printed for this design.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed for this design. It photographs as a plain light thread, and the book's own O. N. T. Articles pages list Clark's O. N. T. crochet cottons in white and in colours.
• Modernisation note: Check: the opening line's OCR reads “Ch 5 and close nae asl st to form a ring” — “nae asl” is scan noise for “with a sl”. Confirmed on image p-056.jpg.
• Modernisation note: Check: the initial beside these stars on the towel is not crocheted and is not transcribed. The book works it in a chain-stitch cord sewn back and forth until the space between the two lines is filled, with the ends pushed through to the wrong side and fastened; there are no printed row directions for it.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book prints no diameter for the star and no placement measurement on the towel — “three crocheted stars set below the initial” is all that is given.