Baby's Cap in Crochet Silk with Roll-Stitch Clover Leaves (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Crochet silk — 3 spools (spool length not printed); a fine mercerized crochet cotton is an approximate substitute
• Steel crochet hook to suit the silk
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 1.5 mm (US steel 7) — approximate; the book says “hook to correspond”, so choose the hook for the silk and check the cap fits a child of 2 to 3 years

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rnd

round

row

row

rep

repeat

sp

space

yo

yarn over

sh

shell

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: Three spools crochet silk, hook to correspond. 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” (thread thrown over the hook 20 times and all taken off at once) is the modern bullion or roll stitch; it has no abbreviation in the list, so it is written “roll st” / “roll”.
• Modernisation note: Check: Round 4 begins “Chain 5, fasten in top of first clover leaf, ch 7 …”; the first ch-5 is read as the starting chain.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Repeat 3d round, 1 leaf to 2 rolls, then 1 to 4” (Round 9) and the later leaf counts depend on the number of rolls; adjust as printed so the crown lies well.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 21 says to “skip 2 in place of 1 at intervals” if there are too many leaves, and counts shells across the back although the back was left off in Row 15; the shells presumably continue along the lower back edge.
• Modernisation note: Round labels are written “Round” as printed (“1st round”); the front uses the book's “row”.