Baby's First Bonnet in Four-Loop Star Stitch (1908): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) soft wool yarn in white — approximate; the original was 1 small skein of white Germantown (skein weight and length not printed)
• ¼ yd (23 cm) white China silk (or a light silk) for the lining
• White marabou or soft faux-fur trim to go around the hood — approximate modern substitute for swan's-down
• ¾ yd (69 cm) white ribbon about 1 in (25 mm) wide
• Crochet hook (original: very fine bone hook)
• Tapestry and sewing needles
• Hook: Start with 3.5 mm (US E-4) — approximate; the book asks for a very fine bone hook and prints no measurement, so keep the crown flat and fit the bonnet to the baby

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

lp

loop

yo

yarn over

sk

skip

rep

repeat

row

row

rnd

round

Notes before you start

• Source: "Baby's Bonnet", The Priscilla Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1908. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: One small skein of white Germantown; ¼ yard white China silk; White swan's-down of sufficient length to go around hood; ¾ yard white ribbon about 1 inch wide; Very fine bone crochet-hook. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own “Explanation of Stitches”, not by name: chain stitch (ch st, “make a series of loops, drawing each loop through the preceding one”) = ch; slip stitch (sl st, “insert the hook into the stitch, draw the wool through that stitch and through the wool on hook at the same time”) = sl st; single crochet (s c, “insert the hook, draw wool through, pass wool around hook (wool over), and draw it through both loops on the hook”) = sc; double crochet (d c, wool around the hook, insert, draw through, then through 2 loops twice) = dc; half double crochet (h d c, wool around the hook, insert, draw through, then “through all 3 loops at once”) = hdc; treble crochet (t c or tr c, wool around the hook twice, insert, draw through, then through 2 loops three times) = tr. For these stitches the 1908 American names already match modern US usage, so no stitch changes height. The book's long crochet (l c: wool around the hook, insert, draw through, then through 1 loop, then through 2 loops twice) is the modern extended double crochet; where used it is written “long crochet” with that definition.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: ch st = ch, s c = sc, d c = dc, h d c = hdc, t c / tr c = tr, st(s) = st(s), “wool over” / “thread over” / “pass the wool around the hook” = yo; “miss” = sk; loop = lp; “repeat” = rep; “beginning” = beg. “Widen” is written as increase and “narrow” as decrease, as defined in each design. Ordinal row names (“1st row”, “2d row”) are written Row 1, Row 2; where the book calls a circuit of a round piece a “row” the book's word is kept. “Plain” (a row or round with no increases or decreases) is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are printed as bone hooks described only as fine, medium-sized or coarse, or by an unstated numbering system, with no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from the book. The suggested modern hook is an approximate starting point chosen for the yarn weight and tied to any printed measurement.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed for this design; work a swatch and match any printed measurement (given in the modern gauge line) before starting.
• Modernisation note: The yarns are 1908 trade descriptions with no exact modern equivalent, and the book prints no yardage or skein/ball weights except where quoted in the materials. The CYC weights given are approximations only: Saxony (a fine, firm yarn) and 2-ply (single) zephyr as super fine (CYC #1); ice wool (a very fine, lustrous yarn) as super fine (CYC #1); Shetland floss (a soft, lofty yarn) and eiderdown wool as fine (CYC #2) — lofty yarns and to be matched by gauge or measurement rather than by weight; 4-ply (split) zephyr, 4-fold Germantown and Spanish yarn as light (CYC #3); 8-fold Germantown and knitting worsted as medium (CYC #4).
• Modernisation note: This bonnet uses its own 4-loop star, described inside the directions (not the book's 5-loop Star Stitch page); its steps are transcribed as printed. “Loop” is written lp; “wool over” is written yo. The crown circuits are labelled rounds; the book counts them as “rows of stars”.
• Modernisation note: The book's diagram of the front is described in words in the first step of the front; A and B on the diagram mark its two ends.
• Modernisation note: Check: in crown Round 2 the book writes “and 1 in next eye, wool over, ch 1” without “draw through all”; the star is closed as in Round 1.
• Modernisation note: Check: the row counts do not add up exactly — 9 shaping rows, “about 22 rows … counting from foundation chain” for one half, then “22 rows of 19 stars”, and a final widening and narrowing, against “38 rows in all”. Follow the diagram: shape each end over 9 rows and work straight rows of 19 stars between them to make 38 rows.
• Modernisation note: Check: the length of the foundation ch for the front is not printed (“Chain. On this work 19 stars”).
• Modernisation note: Check: “full in to crown” is read as easing (gathering) the back edge of the front onto the crown; which edge is sewn up at the back is not printed. Follow the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Swan's-down (a soft downy trim) is replaced in the modern materials by marabou or faux fur; the book's trim is kept in the finishing.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.