Blotter Corner from Desk Set No. 1095 (1916): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• A firm cotton crochet thread — the book names only its own product and number, “Crochet 5x No. 1065”, and prints no size number for it, so no modern size is claimed here
• Stranded embroidery cotton in pink, green and blue for the trimming — the book names only its own shade numbers, 1201 pink, 1182 green and 1302 blue
• Crochet hook to match whatever thread you pick
• Embroidery needle
• Thin cardboard and glue
• Hook: No hook size is printed for this design; the materials line names the threads and stops. Choose the hook to match whatever thread you pick, and change size until the triangle lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

cl

cluster

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

ps

puff stitch

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Desk Set No. 1095 — Blotter Corner" (1095), Royal Society Crochet Lessons, Vol. 1, No. 7, H. E. Verran Company, Inc., New York, 1916. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: ROYAL SOCIETY Crochet 5x No. 1065, 3 balls; Celesta No. 1201, 1 skein; No. 1182, 2 skeins; No. 1302, 2 skeins; A thin triangle of cardboard 6 inches along the base and 3 inches high. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted from the key this book prints itself, not from the date. The key is on book page 3, headed “CROCHET STITCHES”, facing a photographic plate of the same fifteen stitches on book page 2, and it defines every height in full. Single crochet is “insert needle in last chain and pull thread through, thus having two loops on needle. Wind thread once over needle and pull through the two loops” — the modern US single. Half double crochet is named and abbreviated separately, “wind thread once around needle, insert into chain and pull loop through. Wind thread around needle again and pull through three loops at once” — the modern US half double. Double crochet is “wind thread once around needle. Insert needle into chain and pull through; this leaves three loops on needle. Wind thread once around needle and pull through two. Wind thread again over needle and pull through two” — the modern US double, and because the book names the half double separately it cannot be the half double that Clark's 1923 book in another part of this library means by the same-looking abbreviation. Treble crochet is “made same way as Double Crochet, only at first wind thread twice over needle and pull thread through three times — two and two and two” — the modern US treble, written tr below; double treble takes three wraps and is written dtr. The key also defines the filet mesh as “chain two stitches, skip two stitches, one double crochet into next stitch” and a shell as “five double crochet in one stitch”. One trap in the printed abbreviation table on that page: it glosses “sp.” as spoke, not space, so no bare “sp.” anywhere in this book has been read as a space.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “ch.” = ch; “s.c.” = sc; “h.d.c.” = hdc; “d.c.” = dc; “t.c.” and “tr.c.” = tr; “d.tr.c.” = dtr; “sl. st.” = sl st; “sk.” = sk; “p.” = picot; “m.” = mesh. Ordinal row names (“1st Row”, “2nd Row”) are written Row 1, Row 2; the book's “repeat from *” is written rep from *; and “finish off” is written fasten off. The book's own word “hole” for the gap it works into is kept, because that is the word it uses and it never abbreviates it.
• Modernisation note: The printed paragraphs are split into one row or step per line; stitch order and counts are unchanged. Section headings are the book's own where it prints them and ours where it does not. The OCR of this scan is rough — it prints “d.c.” variously as “dc”, “de” and “dic”, sets row labels as “lst Bow”, “Qnd Bow” and “8rd Row”, and drops words at the column breaks. Those quirks are kept in the excerpts and not in the rows.
• Modernisation note: The book names its threads by the maker's own trade name and colour number — Royal Society Cordichet in a stated size, sometimes with a colour number such as No. 3012. Those colour numbers were shade codes in the maker's own range and cannot be matched to any modern shade card, so they are recorded as printed and not converted. The stated thread size is read as roughly equal to the modern crochet cotton size of the same number — approximate only.
• Modernisation note: The book prints a hook number for most designs, but the number belongs to the maker's own scale rather than to any modern one, so it is recorded above as printed and the metric suggestion below is ours, read across from the thread size rather than from the page.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design — the book prints no gauge, tension or stitch count per inch anywhere. Work a sample and change hook size until the piece lies flat.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed for this design. The book gives ball counts only, and where it does they are recorded above as printed; no length in yards or metres appears anywhere in the book.
• Modernisation note: Check: “bean st.” is the book's own name for the stitch and it defines it inside Row 12 in its own words — five wraps taken into the same stitch and pulled through all the loops at once. That definition is written out above where the book puts it. The book's ink bottle on the same page defines a bean stitch of four wraps instead, so the count belongs to the design and not to the name.
• Modernisation note: Check: the increase rule is the book's whole shaping — “continue increasing the same way until 11 rows of d.c. are made”, meaning 3 dc into the first and last stitch of every row as in Rows 2 to 4. Nothing has been added to place the increases beyond what those three rows show.
• Modernisation note: Check: the picots in Row 14 are printed with their chain count, “ch. 4, form p.”, and that count is kept above.
• Modernisation note: Check: only the crochet is transcribed as instructions; the band and fan are embroidery, not crochet, and are set out separately above in the book's own words.
• Modernisation note: Check: the only measurement printed anywhere in this design is the cardboard triangle, and the metric conversion beside it is ours. No size is printed for the finished crochet.
• Modernisation note: Check: the OCR of this design drops letters at the column breaks — it prints “11 ro.s of u.c.”, “pull turough all loops at once” and “Trim with embrboidery”. The page image reads 11 rows of d.c., pull through all loops at once, and Trim with embroidery.