Golf Vest in Afghan Stitch with Cross-Stitch Stars (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) firm wool yarn — approximate; the original was 2 hanks of Scotch wool (hank weight and length not printed)
• Silk or silk-like embroidery thread for the cross-stitch stars (original: 2 balls of crochet silk; the directions say knitting silk), e.g. black and yellow
• Tunisian (afghan) crochet hook, long enough to hold 34+ loops
• Binding braid (1 roll), ¼ yd (23 cm) silk for facing the fronts, a narrow muslin stay for the buttonholes, ¼ yd (23 cm) broad elastic, 10 small brass buttons, buttonhole twist
• Tapestry and sewing needles
• Hook: Start with a 4 mm (US G-6) Tunisian hook — approximate; the book compares its long hook to a No. 13 bone knitting needle in an unstated numbering. Change size to match the printed measurements

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

st

stitch

sts

stitches

yo

yarn over

lp

loop

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Golf Vest", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Two hanks of Scotch wool; 1 roll of braid for binding; ¼ of a yard of silk for facing the fronts; 10 small brass buttons; 2 balls of crochet silk for working; ¼ of a yard of broad crinkle-edge elastic; 1 long crochet-hook about the size of a No. 13 bone knitting-needle; 1 spool of twist. 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: The book's “regular afghan-stitch” is Tunisian crochet worked on a long hook: lps are picked up on the forward pass and worked off on the return pass (yo and draw through 1 lp, then yo and draw through 2 lps until 1 lp remains), both passes making one “rib”. For the later ribs the book does not say where the lps are picked up; the usual afghan stitch picks them up under the vertical bars of the row below (modern Tunisian simple stitch).
• Modernisation note: “Scotch wool” is given as light (CYC #3); this is an approximation.
• Modernisation note: “Bind off” (Tunisian) is kept as printed: work a sl st in each vertical bar across.
• Modernisation note: Check: “widen every second rib at each end for four times. This gives 8 ribs” and the later widening counts are kept as printed; the method of widening (picking up an extra lp at the edge) is not described.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Neck measure, 31 inches” is kept as printed; it may be a misprint for the chest or waist measurement.
• Modernisation note: Check: the materials list crochet silk “for working” but the directions say “To work the stars use knitting silk”; either silk will do for the cross stitches. The star positions follow the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.