Slumber Slippers in Ridged Single Crochet (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn — approximate; the original was about 3 oz (85 g) of four-fold Germantown wool
• Crochet hook (original: medium-sized hook, No. 9 or 10 in an unstated numbering)
• Elastic or ribbon, and ribbon for bows (quantities not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) — approximate; the book's hook numbers are not given in diameters. Choose a size that gives soft but not thin work, and match the printed 9 in (23 cm) chain and 18 in (46 cm) length

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

BLO

back loop only

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Slumber Slippers", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Fourfold Germantown wool — about three ounces; Medium-sized hook; “to give a very soft kind of work, No. 7 or 8 hook may be used; but this is inclined to be too thin when washed. About 9 or 10 is better.”. 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: “Rubber” (elastic) is written as elastic.
• Modernisation note: No photograph of these slippers is printed in the book; the yarn color is not stated.
• Modernisation note: Check: “sew or crochet very softly and evenly the two sides of the work together” is read as joining the two 18 in (46 cm) long edges into a tube before folding it flat for the end seam; the book gives no diagram.
• Modernisation note: Check: the “round of holes” and the “tiny edge or scallop” at the top are not given stitch counts; any eyelet round (for example, dc with ch 1 between) and small shell edge will do.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line (weaving in ends) added. Metric conversions added.