Ladies' Hood in Staple Work and Star Stitch (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn for the lining — approximate; the original was 2 skeins Germantown (or 5 skeins four-fold zephyr)
• Super fine (CYC #1) wool yarn for the outside — approximate; the original was 2 skeins two-fold zephyr
• Silk or silk-blend crochet thread for the edge — approximate; the original was 1 ball of silk
• Hairpin lace loom set 1½ in (3.8 cm) wide, and a narrower one for the strip above the frill
• Crochet hook (hook not printed)
• Sewing needle and pins
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) for the star-stitch lining and a smaller hook (about 2.75 mm, US C-2) for the staple work — approximate; no hook or measurement is printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

lp

loop

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies' Hood in Staple Work", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Lining: Germantown, two skeins (or four-fold zephyr, five skeins); Outside: two-fold zephyr on an inch and a half staple, two skeins; One ball of silk for the edge. 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: Star stitch is the book's own stitch, defined on its “Star Stitch” page (quoted as the first steps of each design that uses it): loops are drawn up in the chain or in the long and short strands of the star below, all taken off together with 1 yo and closed with 1 ch. It has no single modern abbreviation, so it is written “star”. The book's widening terms are kept and explained: “wi 1” (one extra star in the same stitch), “wi 2” (two extra stars in that stitch) and “wi by 2 over 1” (two stars over one star of the row below).
• Modernisation note: Staple work (“also called hairpin work and Maltese crochet”) is modern hairpin lace, worked on a U-shaped wire staple (a hairpin lace loom or fork). The book's width is the distance between the prongs. Its method is quoted as the first steps of each design that uses it.
• 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: The book notes that the lining “may be made of any of the heavier wools and in any close stitch”; the photographed hood's star-stitch lining is transcribed.
• Modernisation note: The book's “(See detail star st, page 3.)” is replaced by the star stitch steps placed first.
• Modernisation note: Check: the lining begins on ch 5, while the book's general star-stitch-in-a-circle directions begin on ch 4; ch 5 is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: “continue increasing one star every row between widenings until you widen every 8 stars in 9th row” is read as increasing in every 2nd star on Row 2, every 3rd star on Row 3, and so on to every 8th star on Row 9.
• Modernisation note: Check: in the staple work, “2d row”, “3d row” and so on are separate staple strips joined in turn; “draw 2 loops of centre through 4 of strip” is read as pulling loops of the previous piece through loops of the new strip (a hairpin chain join). The lengths of strips 2–7 are not printed — each runs around the crown to fit.
• Modernisation note: Check: the ribbon ties seen in the photograph are not listed in the materials or directions.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line added.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.