Irish Crochet Rose and Lily of the Valley Yoke (1921): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 50 mercerized cotton crochet thread — approximate equivalent of Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 50
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 12)
• Padding cord for the center medallion (“the cord”; thickness not printed)
• A piece of black oilcloth (or a modern substitute such as stiff dark vinyl or interfacing) to baste the motifs onto
• Ribbon for the open row
• Sewing needle and basting thread
• Hook: Start with 1.0 mm (steel hook US steel No. 12) — approximate conversion of the printed No. 12 hook; no gauge is printed, so choose a size that gives firm, close motifs.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

sp

space

rep

repeat

row

row

BLO

back loop only

Notes before you start

• Source: "Irish Crochet Yoke", J. & P. Coats Crochet Book No. 7: Sweaters, Yokes, and Boudoir Caps (designed by Anne Orr), J. & P. Coats, Pawtucket, R.I., 1921. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 50; Hook No. 12. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own stitch key (“Abbreviation Stitches and How to Make Them”), not by name. Its slip stitch (sl st) = sl st. Its single stitch (s st: “insert the needle in the stitch directed, draw the working thread through this stitch, making two on the needle, then draw the working thread through these two loops”) = modern US sc. Its treble crochet (tr: thread around the needle once, draw through, then through two loops twice; “three chains equal one treble”) = modern US dc. Its double treble (dtr: thread around twice, loops worked off two at a time three times) = modern US tr. Its triple treble (tr tr: thread around three times) = modern US dtr. So every “s st” is written sc, every “tr” dc, and every “d tr” tr.
• Modernisation note: Period wording modernised: s st, tr, d tr written as sc, dc, tr (see the stitch note); “bl” written as block; “sp” kept as sp (filet space); “p” written as picot; “needle” (the crochet hook) as hook; “throw cotton over” as yo; “skip” as sk; “fasten”/“fasten cotton” as join thread; “break cotton” as fasten off; “repeat” as rep; “drop off”/“leave off” meshes kept as printed (stop working over those meshes); ordinal row names (“1st Row”) written as Row 1, and “Row” is kept even where a piece is worked round (as the book does).
• Modernisation note: Picot as the book defines it: “usually made by a chain of three or five, then a slip stitch in the first chain.” The size is not given in the individual designs, so use ch 3 (or ch 5 for a larger picot), sl st in the first ch.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs are split into one row or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are 1921 steel crochet hook numbers; the book prints no diameters. The metric sizes given use the modern US steel-hook scale (No. 2 ≈ 2.2 mm, No. 7 ≈ 1.65 mm, No. 8 ≈ 1.5 mm, No. 10 ≈ 1.3 mm, No. 12 ≈ 1.0 mm, No. 13 ≈ 0.85 mm, No. 14 ≈ 0.75 mm) and are approximate only — period numbering may differ, so match the printed meshes to the inch instead. The book's own table pairs, for example, size 5 thread with a No. 2 hook for 3 meshes to the inch, size 70 thread with a No. 12 hook for 8 meshes, and size 100 thread with a No. 14 hook for 9½–10 meshes, and warns that “if the thread is loosely held, the meshes will increase to the inch”.
• Modernisation note: Threads are 1921 J. & P. Coats products with no exact modern equivalent. Approximate modern equivalents: Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 30–100 as mercerized cotton crochet thread of the same size number; Coats Pearl Cotton No. 5 as size 5 pearl (perle) cotton. The book prints no yardage or ball counts, so no yardage is given.
• Modernisation note: The book's directions are printed in two columns in this order: materials, small rose, large roses, leaves and stems (left column); lilies of the valley, center medallion, basting and filling, ribbon row and edge (right column). They are given here grouped by motif, then assembly, in the book's order within each group.
• Modernisation note: The book calls rose petals “leaves” (“the bottom of the first leaf”, “the second row of leaves”); they are written “petals” here to keep them apart from the separate ribbed leaves. “These roses have the leaves over the intersections” is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: “The back half of the st” and “back of st only” are written as back loop only (blo).
• Modernisation note: Check: “Then make 3 s sts the length of the stem” is kept as “3 sc”; it probably means cover the stem with sc (3 rows or 3 sc per ch are both possible). Compare with the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Check: “cover this closely with 2 s st” — probably 2 sc in each space or st over the cord; the count of sts per space is not printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: “fasten with short tr” is written “short dc”; the book does not define a short treble — it may mean a half double crochet (hdc).
• Modernisation note: Check: the filling “ch 4, 1 p, ch 4” is the whole instruction; join the chains to the motifs and to each other as needed to fill the spaces (the usual Irish crochet method).
• Modernisation note: Check: the edge's “2nd row of edge which is the last” — the first edge row is not described separately; it appears to be the sc-filled chain at the bottom of the yoke.
• Modernisation note: Check: the number and arrangement of roses, leaves and lily sprays are not printed; follow the photograph.
• Modernisation note: The oilcloth substitute and finishing line are ours.