Crocheted Auto Robe (1916): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Medium worsted (CYC #4) wool yarn in three colours — the original was 4 Fold Columbia Germantown, 28 hanks Wisteria No. 3, 30 hanks Oregon Green No. 3 and 2 hanks Black, or the Imported Germantown at 32, 34 and 4 hanks (hank weight not printed)
• Crochet hook (original: Celluloid No. 5), and a long Tunisian hook for the centre panel
• Tapestry needle for the ends and the monogram
• Hook: Start with 4.5 mm (US 7), Tunisian hook to match for the centre; change size to suit the yarn (no gauge is printed)

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

rnd

round

inc

increase

sp

space

Notes before you start

• Source: "Crocheted Auto Robe", The Columbia Book of Yarns, containing a Manual of Knitting and Crocheting (Seventeenth Edition), by Anna Schumacker, Wm. H. Horstmann Company, Philadelphia — the manufacturers of Columbia Yarns, 1916. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: 4 Fold Columbia Germantown, 28 hanks Wisteria No. 3, 30 hanks Oregon Green No. 3, 2 hanks Black; or 4 Fold Columbia Imported Germantown, 32 hanks Wisteria No. 3, 34 hanks Oregon Green No. 3, 4 hanks Black; 1 Celluloid Crochet Hook No. 5. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own key, not by name. The abbreviation list on book page 8 reads “Ch.—Chain stitch”, “Sl. St.—Slip a stitch”, “Sg. C.—Single crochet”, “D. C.—Double crochet”, “L. C.—Long crochet”, “T. C. or Tr. C.—Treble crochet”, “P.—Picot”, “C.—Crochet”, “Th. O.—Throw over”, and it points to book pages 11 and 12 for the working definitions. Those pages settle the naming: single crochet is “Insert hook, draw yarn through, pass yarn around the hook, and draw it through both loops on the hook” — the modern US single crochet, drawn off in one step, not a British double; double crochet is “Pass the yarn around the hook, insert the hook, draw yarn through; pass the yarn around the hook and draw yarn through 2 loops and again through 2” — one thread-over, the modern US double crochet; treble crochet is “Pass the yarn around the hook twice … draw through 2 loops, again through 2 loops, and again through 2” — the modern US treble. So this 1916 book is American naming that already matches modern US terms, and Sg. C., D. C. and T. C. are written sc, dc and tr here with no change of height. This is derived from the printed working definitions and wrap counts, not assumed from the publisher.
• Modernisation note: The book's own rule for asterisks is kept as printed: “Stars, thus * *, mean that the work described between them is to be repeated.” Where a design says “repeat from * across”, the repeat runs to the end of that row.
• Modernisation note: The book defines “Wrap—Means to throw yarn over needle”, and uses “yarn over hook” in the same sense; both are written yo.
• Modernisation note: Period wording is written in modern US form: “needle” (used for the crochet hook) = hook; “skip” = sk; “repeat from *” = rep from *; “break off yarn” = fasten off; “taking up the whole stitch” = working under both loops; “taking up the back loop” = blo; ordinal row names (“Row 2”, “2d row”, “3d row”) are written Row 2, Row 3. Stitch counts printed in the original are kept exactly as printed.
• Modernisation note: The printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts are unchanged. Section headings in SMALL CAPS in the original (Instep, Sole, Band, Crown, Sleeves, Collar) are kept as section headings. Where the book runs several steps into one paragraph without numbering them, they are split onto separate lines and left unnumbered.
• Modernisation note: Hook numbers (bone, celluloid, amber, wood, rubber — No. 0 to No. 15) are Columbia's own 1916 scale. The book prints a “Columbia Gauge Card” on book page 7 showing the sizes, but the exact diameters are shown only as printed dots against each number, with no figures, so no millimetre size can be read out of the book. Every modern hook suggested here is ours, chosen for the yarn weight and not read off the card; the printed number is recorded in the original materials.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed for this design — the book prints no gauge for any design. Its only advice is on book page 8: “We caution all Knitters and Crocheters who are inclined to knit or crochet tight to use a larger size needle or hook; and if loose a smaller size needle or hook; otherwise your garment will not work out in size according to instructions.” Work a swatch and change hook size until any printed measurement comes out right.
• Modernisation note: Columbia yarns are 1916 trade names with no exact modern equivalent, and the book prints hanks and balls without stating their weight or length, so no yardage can be given. The modern CYC weights below are approximations only: Columbia Saxony (2, 3 and 4 fold) was a soft fine wool, treated here as fine (CYC #2) in 2 and 3 fold and light (CYC #3) in 4 fold; Superfine Crochet Wool and Pompadour Wool as super fine to fine (CYC #1–2); Princess Wool and Lady Jane as fine (CYC #2); Columbia Floss as fine (CYC #2); 4 Fold Germantown, and its Imported version, as medium worsted (CYC #4).
• Modernisation note: The book names its colours in words only (White, Pink, Wisteria, Oregon Green, Black, Rose Antique Nos. 1, 3 and 5) and its plates are black-and-white halftones, so no printed colour value exists. Every hex below is ours, a plain reading of the period colour name, and is not taken from the book.
• Modernisation note: “Plain afghan stitch” is the book's name for what is now called Tunisian simple stitch, worked on a long hook: a forward pass picking up a loop in each vertical bar and keeping every loop on the hook, then a return pass working the loops off two at a time. The book pictures it on book page 68 but prints no worked definition of the forward and return passes, so the description here is the standard one and is flagged as ours, not the book's. “Purled afghan stitch” is the book's name for picking the stitches up from the back of the preceding row, which it does print, at the point of use.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added; the inch measurements are the book's own.
• Modernisation note: “Wisteria” and “Oregon Green” are Columbia's own 1916 shade names, kept as printed; the “No. 3” after each is the shade depth in that colour's range, not a yarn size.
• Modernisation note: The book's heading carries the line “For detail see Afghan Stitch, page 68.” The centre panel's own direction — 26 rows of plain afghan stitch on a 54-stitch chain — is complete without it.
• Modernisation note: The border rounds are printed as “rows” and worked continuously around all four sides; the book's word is kept.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book prints no monogram alphabet for the three letters in the centre, so none is given here.