Figure 49 Reticella Insertion of Diamond and Pyramid Squares (1916): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 70 crochet thread — approximate modern equivalent of the book's No. 70 crochet cotton
• 1.0 mm steel hook (US steel 12) — approximate for the book's No. 12 hook
• Fine tapestry or sewing needle for the ends
• A fine needle and thread for overcasting the squares together
• Hook: Start with 1.0 mm (US steel 12) — approximate for the book's No. 12 hook; change size until the thread runs easily without splitting and the lace lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

hdc

half double crochet

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

dtr

double treble crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

sp

space

rep

repeat

row

row

rnd

round

dec

decrease

Notes before you start

• Source: "Figure 49. Reticella Insertion", The Priscilla Crochet Book: Edgings and Insertions, No. 2 (Edited by Belle Robinson), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1916. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Crochet cotton No. 70 — the book's Materials paragraph says “crochet cotton” means the hard-twisted cotton sold as Cordonnet, Cordonnet Special, Cordichet, Kord-net and similar; Hook No. 12; A needle and thread for overcasting the squares together. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own “Explanation of Stitches” (printed page 3), not by name. This book uses the older British-style naming, so its stitch names do NOT match modern US names: chain (ch) = ch; slip stitch (sl) = sl st; “double” (d), “put hook through work, draw thread through work (making two loops on the hook); thread over again and through both loops” = modern US single crochet (sc) — the book itself notes this stitch “has been, especially in wool crochet, called ‘single crochet’”; “half treble” (ht), thread over, through work, “thread over and through all three sts at once” = modern US half double crochet (hdc); “treble” (t), thread over, through work, “thread over and through two loops, thread over and again through two loops” = modern US double crochet (dc); “double treble” (dt), thread over twice and worked off by twos three times = modern US treble crochet (tr); “long treble” (lt) or “triple treble” (tt), thread over three times and crocheted off by twos = modern US double treble (dtr); “quadruple treble” (qt), thread over four times = modern US triple treble (trtr). Every stitch in these instructions has been rewritten in the modern US name and abbreviation on that basis.
• Modernisation note: The book's picot (p) is defined on the same page: “A p is formed on a ch by joining the last four sts (or any given number) in a ring by working a sl, or a d, in the fourth st from the hook. In the following directions a sl is understood unless otherwise designated.” Picots are written out as “picot” with the chain count the design gives, since the site's abbreviation list has no picot entry.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: d = sc, ht = hdc, t = dc, dt = tr, lt/tt = dtr, st(s) = st(s), sp = sp, p = picot, blk = block, “miss” = sk, “thread over (the hook)” = yo, “repeat” = rep, “needle” (where it is used for the crochet hook) = hook. Ordinal row names (“1st row”, “2d row”) are written Row 1, Row 2, and “1st round”/“2d round” as Rnd 1, Rnd 2. Section headings (Heading, Edge, Lower Edge, Filling) are the book's own where it prints them.
• Modernisation note: The book prints each design as one or two solid paragraphs; these have been split into one row, round or step per line. Stitch order and counts are unchanged. Where the book's own repeat markers (*, **, ***) span several lines they are kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Thread sizes are the book's own numbering. Its Materials paragraph says that “where the words ‘crochet cotton’ are used in the text of this book, the cotton referred to is the hard-twisted cotton known by such names as Cordonnet, Cordonnet Special, Cordichet, Kord-net, etc.” “No. N crochet cotton” is given below as modern size N crochet thread, which is an approximation: modern size numbering runs the same way (higher number = finer thread) but the exact diameters are not identical. No yardage is printed anywhere in the book, so none is given here.
• Modernisation note: Hook sizes are the book's own steel numbering. The 1916 steel numbering is not identical to the modern one, so every metric size below is approximate and should be adjusted to the thread.
• Modernisation note: No gauge and no finished measurements are printed for this design; work a sample repeat and adjust the hook until the lace lies flat at the width you want.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.
• Modernisation note: The book warns that “sometimes ‘long treble’ is used for anything longer than dt, and the number of loops given”. Wherever it writes “long t (over N times)” the wrap count is kept in the modern text, because the height of that stitch is set by the wrap count and not by the name: over 3 times = dtr, over 4 times = trtr, and longer wraps are written out as they are printed.
• Modernisation note: The pyramids are worked in afghan stitch (Tunisian crochet), which the book names but does not define; its picking up of a loop through each chain and working off by twos is the ordinary Tunisian simple stitch.