Baby's Mittens with Bean-Stitch Cuff (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) soft lofty wool yarn in white — approximate; the original was about 1 skein of Shetland floss (skein weight and length not printed)
• A small amount of the same yarn in pink for Round 2
• Crochet hook (hook not printed)
• Ribbon for the wrists (length not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 3.5 mm (US E-4) — approximate; no hook or measurement is printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rnd

round

sk

skip

rep

repeat

lp

loop

yo

yarn over

BLO

back loop only

inc

increase

dec

decrease

Notes before you start

• Source: "Baby's Mittens", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: About one skein Shetland floss (from the directions; a pink round is also worked). 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 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: Bean stitch is the book's own stitch (a 3-lp puff closed with ch 1, worked over 3 sts); its definition, printed with the Baby's Sack on book page 44, is quoted as the first steps. It has no single modern abbreviation, so it is written “bean”.
• Modernisation note: Check: Round 8 “work 2 s c in a st, 1 s c in next, 2 s c in next” is the book's widening (2 sc in one st) at the thumb position; Rounds 10 and 12 widen at the same points with more sts between.
• Modernisation note: Check: “turn at end of each round” (Round 9) means the rounds are joined and turned; how the join is made is not printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: Round 14 “single crochet in s c at 1st widening” is read as sc to the 1st widening; the 9 skipped sts are left for the thumb.
• Modernisation note: Check: the ribbon row and the wrist edge placement are as printed; the wrist edge is read as worked along the starting ch of the cuff.
• Modernisation note: Round numbers 15–22 are ours (the book prints “Work 8 rounds plain” before the 23rd round).
• Modernisation note: Finishing “Weave in the ends. Make the second mitten the same.” added.