Violet Yoke with Flower Basket and Violet Straps (1921): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 70 mercerized cotton crochet thread — approximate equivalent of Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 70
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 13)
• Ribbon for the strap slots and beading
• Sewing needle and thread
• Hook: Start with 0.85 mm (steel hook US steel No. 13) — approximate conversion of the printed No. 13 hook; change size to match the printed meshes to the inch.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sk

skip

sp

space

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Violet 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. 70; No. 13 Hook. Gauge: 8 meshes to the inch. 38 bust..
• 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: The directions are printed on book page 17 in two columns; the strap directions run from the foot of the left column (“1st 8 Rows … make 5 rows each 19 sp”) to the top of the right column (“Next Row — 3 sp, ch 39 …”), and are given here in that order.
• Modernisation note: Check: the slot rows count to 20 meshes (3 + 13 + 4, and 4 + 13 + 3), but the strap is 19 sp wide. Follow the strap chart; one of the counts is probably a misprint.
• Modernisation note: Check: the yoke's rows of plain meshes (46 + 92 + 46 = 184, plus two baskets) are printed for a 38 bust; for other sizes change the number of plain rows, keeping the baskets centered front and back.
• Modernisation note: The edge is printed as one step and a “2nd Row”; the first step is written Row 1.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line added from the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.