Baby's Cap of Roll-Stitch Fan Rings (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Mercerized cotton crochet thread or crochet silk — thread size and quantity not printed; approximate
• Steel crochet hook (not printed)
• Optional: China silk for a lining
• Chiffon for rosettes and ribbon for ties (quantities not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 1.5 mm (US steel 7) — approximate; no hook or measurement is printed, so fit the joined fans to the child's head

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

rep

repeat

lp

loop

yo

yarn over

Notes before you start

• Source: "Baby's Cap", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Mercerized cotton or crochet silk (from the directions; no materials list printed). 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: 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 book's roll stitch (“wind the thread 15 times over the hook”) is the modern bullion or roll stitch; it has no abbreviation in the list, so it is written “roll st”. Its printed method is placed before the fan.
• Modernisation note: No materials list is printed; the thread is taken from the directions (“Use mercerized cotton or crochet silk”).
• Modernisation note: “Doubles” in the joining (“two chains and doubles in the picots”) is read as sc, since the book's other stitches are named by US terms; Check: it may mean dc.
• Modernisation note: Check: the joining of the fans is expressly left to the worker (“Detailed instructions would be too confusing”); follow the photograph and fit on the head.
• Modernisation note: Check: the picot sequence is printed as “a tr under the ch of fan … a p of 5 ch, fasten the p on top of tr, 5 s c under the ring (a tr on fan, a p of 5 ch), repeat until there are 9 tr and 9 p”; with 2 tr between the first and last 2 rolls and 1 between the others, as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the lining pattern, ties and rosettes are not described further.
• Modernisation note: “Windovers” is written “windings”. Finishing “Weave in the ends” added.