Baby's Bath Robe in Star Stitch and Half Double Crochet (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) soft wool yarn in white — approximate; the original was 11 skeins of white Germantown (skein weight and length not printed; fold not stated)
• Light (CYC #3) soft wool yarn in pink or blue — approximate; the original was 1 skein of Germantown
• Crochet hook (a medium-sized bone hook in the original)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4.5 mm (US 7) — approximate; the book gives only a medium-sized bone hook and no measurements, so fit the 70-ch neck to the baby

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

hdc

half double crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

rep

repeat

yo

yarn over

sh

shell

Notes before you start

• Source: "Baby's Bath Robe", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Eleven skeins of white and 1 of pink or blue Germantown, and a medium-sized bone 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 1912 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: Star stitch is the book's own stitch, defined on its “Star Stitch” page (quoted as the first steps of each design that uses it): loops are drawn up in the chain or in the long and short strands of the star below, all taken off together with 1 yo and closed with 1 ch. It has no single modern abbreviation, so it is written “star”. The book's widening terms are kept and explained: “wi 1” (one extra star in the same stitch), “wi 2” (two extra stars in that stitch) and “wi by 2 over 1” (two stars over one star of the row below).
• 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 1912 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 Star Stitch page is quoted as the first steps; this design also gives its own start for each star in Row 2 (quoted in that row). The book's half-double here (“throw wool over hook, take up a st, then draw wool through 3 sts on the hook”) is modern hdc.
• Modernisation note: “Germantown” is printed without a fold; it is treated as light (CYC #3) — approximate.
• Modernisation note: The pink or blue contrast is written “pink” as in the directions; blue may be used instead, as printed in the materials.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 2's “take 2 sts in the 3 ch” is read as drawing up lps in 2 of the 3 turning ch.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 6's “work across the back” gives no star count; work stars across the back between the widenings.
• Modernisation note: Check: the “scallop of the white” at the sleeve edge is not described; the neck/front shell (6 dc fastened with sc) may be used.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book says only “with the pink” for the borders; use blue throughout if blue was chosen.
• Modernisation note: Finishing “Weave in the ends” added.