Child's Play Reins with Bells (1914): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn — the original was Germantown: 1 skein Tan and 1 skein Light Blue
• 12 small jingle bells
• Tunisian (afghan) hook and a crochet hook of similar size
• Tapestry needle and sewing thread
• Hook: Start with a 4 mm (US G-6) Tunisian hook — approximate; the book gives a medium afghan needle

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

lp

loop

sk

skip

rep

repeat

Notes before you start

• Source: "Reins with Bells" (No. 515), Priscilla Juniors' Crochet Book (Belle Robinson), The Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston, 1914. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: One skein of tan Germantown; one skein of light blue; 12 bells; medium bone or amber afghan needle. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own definitions (pages 3–6), not by name: chain stitch (“ch”) = ch; slip stitch (“sl” — “made with the needle in the loop, a loop pulled through the work and through the loop on the needle”) = sl st; double crochet (“d” — “made with the needle in the loop, a loop drawn through the work and another loop drawn through both”) = modern US single crochet (sc); treble crochet (“t” — “another loop over the needle, a loop drawn through the work (making three loops on the needle), then a loop is drawn through two on the needle, leaving two loops on the needle; another loop drawn through these two finishes the treble”) = modern US double crochet (dc); double treble crochet (“d t” — “two loops over the needle, one loop drawn through the work, when there will be four loops on the needle”, then worked off two at a time three times) = modern US treble crochet (tr). The 1914 names are one step taller than modern US names (they match modern UK usage), so every printed “d” is written sc, every “t” dc and every “d t” tr.
• Modernisation note: The book's words and letters are written as modern US abbreviations: ch = ch, sl = sl st, d = sc, t = dc, d t = tr; “needle”, “crochet-needle” or “hook” = hook; “thread over needle (hook)” = yo; “draw thread through (the work)” = draw up a lp; “miss” = sk; “over ch” or “over each chain” = in the ch-sp; “fasten the thread” = fasten off; ordinal names (“1st row”, “2d round”) = Row 1, Rnd 2. Repeats between stars are written “*… ; rep from *” as printed; the book's own rule: “When you see the little stars before and after any directions, whether long or short, the work directed is to be repeated once, or more times.”
• Modernisation note: Afghan stitch as taught in the book (draw a loop through each chain, keeping all loops on the hook; then draw a loop through the last loop on the hook and through two at a time until one remains; next row, draw the loops through “each of the stitches that stand upright”; the work is never turned) = modern Tunisian simple stitch (Tss). The book counts the forward pass and the return pass as two rows, which make one “rib”; one rib is therefore one modern Tunisian row (forward and return pass). The book's word “rib” is kept.
• Modernisation note: The book's running paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation. Cross-references to other pages of the book are replaced by the stitch lesson itself, copied at the start of the design.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are printed as 1914 steel crochet-needle numbers (the book: “from No. 1 (a very large hook, almost as large as a medium-size bone hook) to No. 14, which is very fine”) or as bone, rubber and amber hooks of “small” or “medium” size, with no diameters. The modern hook given is an approximate starting point only, chosen for the thread or yarn and tied to any printed measurement.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed anywhere in the book; work a swatch and match any printed finished measurement.
• Modernisation note: Germantown is a 1914 wool trade name (ply not printed here); light (CYC #3) is an approximation, as for the book's four-fold Germantown afghan.
• Modernisation note: Yardage is never printed; the book gives balls, skeins, spools or hanks only (or nothing), so no yardage is estimated.
• Modernisation note: The cross-stitch embroidery is worked from the book's printed block pattern (see the page image); the book refers the reader to a separate cross-stitch book for the method. The chart is not re-drawn here.
• Modernisation note: Check: the starting chain for the 11-stitch strip is not printed (ch 11). The book does not say how the 13 breast-band stitches are picked up along an edge; draw up 13 lps along the side of the strip as a forward pass.
• Modernisation note: Safety (our note): bells and long cords are choking and strangling hazards for small children — sew bells on very securely and never leave a child unattended in play reins.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.