Child's Slippers in Ribbed Single Crochet with Shell Border (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn in pink — approximate; the original was 1 skein of pink Germantown (skein weight and length not printed)
• Super fine (CYC #1) wool yarn in pink for the border — approximate; the original was part of a skein of pink Saxony
• 1 yd (0.9 m) of 1 in (25 mm) ribbon
• A pair of slipper soles, child's size 7 (the book's “No. 7”)
• Crochet hook (a rather fine hook in the original, to make the work firm)
• Sewing needle and strong thread, tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 3.5 mm (US E-4) — approximate; the book asks for a rather fine hook to make the work firm, and gives no measurement other than No. 7 soles

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

BLO

back loop only

inc

increase

sh

shell

Notes before you start

• Source: "Child's Slippers", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: One skein of pink Germantown, a part of a skein of pink Saxony for the border, and 1 yard of 1-inch ribbon; The soles are No. 7; To make the work firm use a rather fine 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: 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: “Germantown” is printed without a fold; it is treated as light (CYC #3) — approximate.
• Modernisation note: “Taking the back part of the stitch” is written as working in the back loop (blo); 2 rows make 1 rib.
• Modernisation note: “Soles are No. 7” is a period purchased slipper-sole size; no measurement is printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Work 18 sts for the side” is read as working back and forth over 18 sts at one side of the front's last row, leaving the centre sts for the instep opening.
• Modernisation note: Check: the ch-6 loop row “at the lower edge of the t c row” is read as the ribbon casing; the ribbon runs through “the spaces at the top”.
• Modernisation note: Check: the shells of Row 3 are placed in the tr row, but their spacing is not printed.
• Modernisation note: “Weave in the ends. Make the second slipper the same.” added.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.