Ladies' Hairpin Lace Fascinator in Staple Work (1908): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) soft, lofty wool yarn in blue — approximate; the original was 2 skeins of blue Shetland floss (skein weight and length not printed)
• Hairpin lace loom (staple) set 3 in (7.5 cm) wide
• Crochet hook (size not printed)
• Baby ribbon for rosettes (amount not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 3.5 mm (US E-4) — approximate; no hook size is printed, only the 3 in (7.5 cm) staple width

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

lp

loop

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies' Fascinator in Staple Work", The Priscilla Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1908. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Made on a three-inch staple; Blue Shetland floss, two skeins. 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: Staple work (“also called hairpin work and Maltese crochet”) is modern hairpin lace, worked on a U-shaped wire staple (a hairpin lace loom or fork). The book's width is the distance between the prongs. Its method is quoted as the first steps of each design that uses it.
• Modernisation note: Knot stitch is the book's own name for the long-loop single crochet mesh known today as Solomon's knot or love knot; its definition is quoted as the first step of each design that uses it. As the book says, “some crocheters refer to it as knot stitch, and others to knot stitch as just half the group”; the book's word “group” (2 knots) is kept.
• 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: The book's Staple Work and Knot Stitch pages are quoted as the first steps. The design is printed as one paragraph; the steps are split in order.
• Modernisation note: Check: the length of the second strip joined round the centre is not printed; work it to fit around the gathered centre.
• Modernisation note: Check: the 5-yd strip is read as doubled at its middle and gathered there on 40 lps; its two halves are crocheted together for 1 yd (the part hanging at the back in the photograph), then separated and each joined around the crown in opposite directions. The book's “when string is even in length with first” is read as “strip”.
• Modernisation note: Check: “This last row joining to crown should be looped through as in previous two rows” is read as the chain-style loop join used for the second strip (lps drawn through lps).
• Modernisation note: Check: the knot-stitch length for the edge is not printed; the book's Knot Stitch page gives about ½ in (13 mm). The rosettes are not described.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.