Sweater Scarf with Filet Rose Ends and Shell Center (1921): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 5 pearl (perle) cotton — approximate equivalent of Coats Pearl Cotton No. 5 — in lavender, pink or blue
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 2)
• Button molds, 2 in (5 cm) across, for the button covers (number not printed)
• Card for cutting fringe and tassels
• Hook: Start with 2.2 mm (steel hook US steel No. 2) — approximate conversion of the printed No. 2 hook; change size to match the printed meshes to the inch.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

sp

space

lp

loop

yo

yarn over

BLO

back loop only

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Sweater Scarf", 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 Pearl Cotton, No. 5; No. 2 Hook; Lavender for an old lady, or pink or blue for the young girl. Gauge: making the border 3 meshes to the inch.
• 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: Filet crochet as the book defines it: a space (sp) is 1 dc, ch 2, sk 2 sts, 1 dc (“For a space at the beginning of a row, chain five, which allows three for the treble on the edge, and two for the usual chain”); a block (bl, written “block” here) is dc worked in consecutive sts — “there are four trebles in the first block and three trebles in each following block”, so a row of blocks has 3 dc per block plus 1. Ch 3 at the beginning of a row counts as the first dc.
• 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: The filet charts (the book's “working patterns” or “design”) are printed as pictures and are not transcribed square by square here; rows that say “follow design” are kept as printed, and the chart page is listed with this pattern's images. Each chart square is one mesh: a filled square is a block, an open square is a space.
• 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: “Meshes to the inch” is the book's gauge: count filet meshes (spaces or blocks) across 1 in (2.5 cm) of work.
• Modernisation note: Sizes are rarely printed; vintage fit and ease differ from today's. Widths marked “calculated” are ours, from the printed mesh count and meshes to the inch — compare them with a garment that fits before starting.
• Modernisation note: The book's “detail of stitch in scarf” photograph shows the center: rows of 8-dc shells alternate with “inverted shells” — the book's clusters, worked by drawing up loops over the shells below and taking them off together. The inverted-shell steps are transcribed exactly: the first is a 4-dc cluster (yo, draw up a lp, yo, draw through 2, four times, then through all 5 lps); the others draw up 9 lps without yo (4 dc + sc + 4 dc) and take off all 10 at once.
• Modernisation note: “Take up one in” is written “draw up a lp in”. Row 2 is split into two steps at the book's “repeat from last *”.
• Modernisation note: Row 3 of the button cover prints “1 s st in 1st 2 st” — written “1 sc in each of 1st 2 sts”.
• Modernisation note: Check: “1 s st in 4 tr below” (Row 2) is read as “in 4th dc below” (the center of the first half shell).
• Modernisation note: Check: the book does not say how long to make the center, how many buttons to make, or where they go; follow the photograph (the scarf is worn around the shoulders with the belt at the waist).
• Modernisation note: Check: “when joining allow a row of filet to a row of shell” means each center row is joined to the filet ends at successive filet rows, so the center grows as deep as the ends.
• Modernisation note: The book names colours only as choices: “Lavender for an old lady, or pink or blue for the young girl.”
• Modernisation note: Finishing line added.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.