Square Shawl in Long Chain and Double Crochet Points (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) soft, lofty wool yarn — approximate; the original was Shetland floss, 14 or 15 skeins for a 1½ yd (1.4 m) square shawl (skein weight and length not printed)
• Crochet hook (original: medium-sized bone hook)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) — approximate; the long chain stitches are drawn out to about ½ in (13 mm), as printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Shawl", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Fourteen or fifteen skeins of Shetland floss for a shawl 1½ yards square; Medium-sized bone crochet-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: 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's “long ch st” (a lp drawn out to about ½ in before the yarn is drawn through) and “short ch st” (an ordinary ch) are kept and defined in the first step.
• Modernisation note: The border's knot stitch is defined in the row where it is used (a lp drawn out nearly ½ in with a sc worked between the st and the drawn yarn), as in the book's general Knot Stitch page. The 2 dc “closed into 1 st at top” is a modern dc2tog worked into one place; it is kept in words.
• Modernisation note: Long paragraphs of Row 2 are split over several lines at the book's own asterisks.
• Modernisation note: Check: in Border Row 2 the shell is read as (2 dc closed together, ch 1, 2 dc closed together, knot stitch) worked into each sc of Border Row 1; the book does not repeat how the 4 later shell rows are anchored.
• Modernisation note: Check: “working scallop in every alternate shell” — the book's instruction to work in “next shell” and around is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line (weaving in ends) added. Metric conversions added.