Ladies' Fitted Jacket in Crazy Stitch (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) wool yarn — approximate; the original was Shetland floss, 1 box Light Gray and 1 skein Red (box and skein weight and length not printed)
• Crochet hook (original: small bone hook)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 3.25 mm (US D-3) — approximate; a firm, tight stitch is wanted. Change size so the first row of 54 groups gives the printed 27 in (68.5 cm) waist, held slack

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies' Jacket", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: One box light gray Shetland floss and one skein of red; Small bone 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: 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's “crazy-stitch” (groups of 3 dc anchored by sc, worked into the ch-2 openings of the row below) is described inside the jacket directions; its foundation row, pattern row and widening are placed first as the stitch definition, and the book's name is kept.
• Modernisation note: The book's measurements paragraph is given as the finished size: “Having these dimensions given it will be easy for any one to measure herself and make changes in the work to correspond.”
• Modernisation note: Row labels added for the body where the book counts rows in the running text; the neck rows are the book's own “2d row”, “3d row” … counted from the short row that drops 4 groups.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book says “Work 4 rows without widening, turn and work 15 groups on 5th row”; it is not clear whether the foundation row is counted among the 4 rows. The later row numbers (13th, 14th, 15th, 21st) are kept as printed; keep the widening points right over each other.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Widen at points in front on 15th row, working 6 groups, widen, 6 groups, widen” gives only the front portion of the row; work the rest of the row plain.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Work 3 groups of 4 rows each” in the sleeve is kept as printed; it is read as working 3 more sections of 4 rows, leaving off 1 group at each end at the start of each.
• Modernisation note: Check: the sleeve ends with “5 rows of 18 groups” after reducing to 16 groups; the figures are kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the stated finished lengths depend on a firm, tight tension; the book advises that a loose, flimsy stitch would make a practically shapeless garment.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line (weaving in ends) added. Metric conversions added.