Infant's Bootees with Ribbed Slipper Top (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Super fine (CYC #1) wool yarn — approximate; the original was twofold Saxony (quantity not printed)
• Crochet hook (hook not printed)
• Narrow ribbon for the ankle (length not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 2.75 mm (US C-2) — approximate; no hook or measurement is printed, so fit to the baby's foot

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

rnd

round

BLO

back loop only

inc

increase

dec

decrease

Notes before you start

• Source: "Infant's Bootees", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Twofold Saxony (from the directions; quantity not 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 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: “Twofold Saxony” is treated as Saxony, super fine (CYC #1) — approximate.
• Modernisation note: The book calls the circuits “rows”; they are labelled Rounds here to show they go around the chain. Round numbers are ours.
• Modernisation note: Check: “taking up back part of st only on upper side, and both parts on sole” is kept as printed — the upper half of each round in the back loop, the sole half through both loops.
• Modernisation note: Check: the “fancy edge” at the top is not described; any small shell or picot edge may be used. Where the ribbon runs at the ankle is not printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: how the 16 sc on the ch 18 are placed (from the ch) and the join of the last rib to the first at the back are not printed.
• Modernisation note: Finishing “Weave in the ends. Make the second bootee the same.” added.