Rainbow Scarf in a Long-Loop Stitch (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) or super fine (CYC #1) soft wool yarn — approximate; the original was Saxony or (Shetland) floss: about 6 skeins White and ½ skein each of Red, Orange, Yellow, Light Green, Dark Green, Indigo, Light Blue and Violet (skein weight and length not printed)
• Crochet hook (original: medium-sized bone hook)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 3.5 mm (US E-4) — approximate; no measurement is printed. The long loops are drawn up to ¾ in (2 cm).

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

lp

loop

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Rainbow Scarf", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Either Saxony or floss; about six skeins of white and half a skein of each of the colors used; A medium-sized 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: Knot stitch is the book's own name for the long-loop single crochet mesh known today as Solomon's knot or love knot; its definition is quoted as the first step of each design that uses it. As the book says, “some crocheters refer to it as knot stitch, and others to knot stitch as just half the group”; the book's word “group” (2 knots) is kept.
• 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 calls this long-loop stitch “original”; it has no modern name and is written out as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the working of the first stitch of each row (“pass hook under the single thread of wool, draw through st, pass it under wool, work a sl st, 1 ch”) is transcribed word for word; test it on a swatch.
• Modernisation note: Check: “To make second st * pass hook through second” — read as the 2nd ch (or st) from the hook, continuing in each st. The stitch count per row is not printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: “Fasten in the red wool and work two rows, then, in the order named” — the number of rows for each later color is not repeated; 2 rows of each is the likely reading.
• Modernisation note: Check: the directions describe the stripe and fringe at one end only, but the photograph shows stripes and fringe at both ends. Work the other end to match the photograph (for example, start with the stripe sequence and fringe on the foundation chain).
• Modernisation note: Color names are as printed; the hex values are only our approximations.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line (weaving in ends) added.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.