Nightingale Bed Jacket in Double Crochet Groups (1908): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn — approximate; the original was 1 lb 6 oz (624 g) of three-ply wool (colour not printed)
• 3 yd (2.7 m) white ribbon ½ in (13 mm) wide
• Crochet hook (original: bone crochet hook; size not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) — approximate; change size so 184 rows measure about 60 in (152 cm), as printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

sk

skip

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Nightingale", The Priscilla Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1908. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: One pound 6 ounces of three-ply wool; 3 yards of white ribbon ½ inch wide; Bone crochet-hook. Gauge: Not given (“Continue till there are 184 rows, which make 60 inches”).
• 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: “Three-ply wool” is given as light (CYC #3); this is an approximation.
• Modernisation note: A “nightingale” is a period name for a loose bed jacket or wrap; this one is photographed as a jacket with the tied corners forming sleeves.
• Modernisation note: The border row labels are the book's own (“1st row” to “6th row”), prefixed “Border”.
• Modernisation note: Check: the 108 ch are read as 35 × 3 ch (each group worked into 1 ch with 2 ch skipped) plus 3 ch to turn; the book does not say which ch the first group goes into.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Work this pattern all around the nightingale three times” and “turn back and work the same pattern around the opposite way three times” are read as border Rows 1–3 worked all around the strip and then, after turning, Rows 4–6. “It takes two rows to make one edge group” is read as one group along the side edge for every 2 rows of the strip.
• Modernisation note: Check: “plain” border rows are groups worked without increase; how the groups turn the corners in plain rows is not printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the making-up measurements are taken from the middle of the front edge after the strip is doubled; follow the photograph. The wool colour is not printed; the jacket photographs white.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.