Baby's Bootee, of Silk or Wool (1888): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• A fine silk or a Saxony-weight wool — the book names both and prints no quantity
• Crochet hook to suit the yarn
• Enough of the same yarn for a cord and tassel
• Tapestry needle for the ends
• Hook: Check: the book prints no hook number for this design. It names a hook size only twice in its whole 114 pages — “a long bone hook No. 6” for the Crochet Dress for Child on page 60 and “a crochet hook No. 12” for the Teapot-Cosy on page 98, both of which are in this file. Neither is an 1888 maker's size that reads across to a modern number for anything else. Match the hook to whatever thread or yarn you choose, and change size until the work lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

inc

increase

dec

decrease

BLO

back loop only

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Baby's Bootee, of Silk or Wool", Instructions for Crochet Work, Western Lace Manufacturing Company, 218 State Street, Chicago, Ill., 1888. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: “Baby's Bootees on page 39 can be made of silk or Saxony yarn.” (book page 113); The design's own heading: “BABY'S BOOTEE, OF SILK OR WOOL.”; A cord and tassel for the ankle. No quantity, hook number or gauge is printed.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own printed key, “DESCRIPTION OF TERMS USED IN CROCHET”, book page 5 (image p-011.jpg) — not by the look of the abbreviation and not from the date. The key settles the question outright: this 1888 Chicago book uses MODERN US stitch names, the same ladder our 1891 Butterick uses and the opposite of the British-style ladder in the 1913 to 1916 Priscilla books. Its “Single Crochet” is: “Pass the hook through a loop of the last row, bring cotton through, throw cotton around the needle and pass it through the two loops on the needle.” One pull-up and two loops worked off together — the modern US single crochet, not a British double. Its “Double Crochet” is: “Throw cotton once around the needle, pass the hook through a loop of the preceding row, bring cotton through, then take cotton up and bring it through two loops twice.” One wrap before insertion, three loops worked off two at a time twice — the modern US double crochet, not a US single. Its “Half Double Crochet” is: “Like double crochet, only pass the cotton through the three loops on the needle, instead of passing it through two loops twice.” — the modern US half double. Its “Treble” is: “Throw the cotton twice around the needle, and work as double crochet, but bring cotton through two loops three times.” — the modern US treble. Its “Double Double Crochet” is: “Throw the cotton over the needle three times, work as double crochet, but draw the cotton through two loops four times.” — the modern US double treble, written dtr below. The WRAP COUNTS are the decisive evidence and they are printed rather than inferred: none for single, one for double, two for treble, three for double double, with the loops worked off two at a time in every case. So this book's s. c., d. c., h. d. c., t. and d. d. c. are written sc, dc, hdc, tr and dtr below with no shift of height.
• Modernisation note: Two of the book's terms do NOT map straight across, and both are handled explicitly rather than quietly. Its “Close Chain Stitch” (page 5) is: “Insert the hook in the loop of preceding row, and draw cotton through it and the loop on the needle at the same time.” That is what we call a slip stitch worked into the fabric, and it is written sl st below. Its own “Slip Stitch” (page 6) is a different move — a joining, not a stitch: “This stitch is used in joining. Take the hook from the last loop worked, pass it through the loop where the work has to be joined; then take the first loop spoken of and draw it through.” Where a design uses sl. st. in that joining sense the row below says join with a sl st and keeps the book's own wording; where it plainly means travelling along a chain or a row, the row says sl st. Its “Ribbed Crochet” (page 6) is: “Make a single crochet in the back loop of each stitch of the row last worked. At the end of every row make a chain stitch and turn the work; then begin the next row.” — written sc in blo below.
• Modernisation note: The book prints its own short table, “ABBREVIATIONS USED IN DIRECTIONS”, book page 6 (image p-012.jpg): “l. — Loop. ch. st. — Chain Stitch. cl. ch. st. — Close Chain Stitch. s. c. — Single Crochet. d. c. — Double Crochet. h. d. c. — Half Double Crochet. t. — Treble. d. d. c. — Double Double Crochet. p. — Picot. r. c. — Ribbed Crochet. sl. st. — Slip Stitch.” Note that its letter for treble is a bare “t.”, not “tr.”; several designs also write “T” or “t. c.” for the same stitch, and all three are written tr below. Most designs spell the stitches out in words anyway, and both forms are written in modern shorthand here.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “needle” always means the crochet hook and is written hook; “set the needle into” = insert the hook in; “fill the ring with” = work the stitches into the ring; “miss” = sk; “catch down” and “fasten” = join with a sl st or a sc, according to what the row is doing; “throw the cotton over the needle” = yo; “d. c. 3 times in the same place” is written 3 dc in the same place; “repeat from *” = rep from *. Ordinal row names (“Ist Row”, “2d Row”, “3d Row”) are written Row 1, Row 2, Row 3, and Round where the design works in the round. The book's own spellings are kept in the design names as printed.
• Modernisation note: Several of these designs print as one solid paragraph with no row numbering at all, the new row marked only by the word “turn”. Those are split here into one row or step per line at the book's own “turn”, and the book's own sub-headings (BORDER, SCALLOP FOR TOP OF BOOTEE, For the Heading and so on) are kept as section headings. Stitch order and counts are unchanged and nothing is added.
• Modernisation note: The scanned text of this book carries the usual optical-reading slips, and every figure below was read back against the 220 dpi page image rather than trusted from the scan: the scan's “Ist” is 1st, its “Sth” is 8th, its “LO” and “lO” are 10, its “+” and “-L” standing in place of a number are the figure 4, its “§” is 5, its “Y” and “)” are 9, its “S” inside a number is 8, and its “e”, “¢”, “«” and “@” are all the letter c, so that “d. ec.”, “d. «.”, “cd. c.” and “a. c.” are all d. c. Where the scan and the printed page disagree, the printed page is followed and the disagreement is recorded as a Check note.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design. The book prints a gauge exactly once in its whole 114 pages — for the Crochet Dress for Child on page 60, which is in this file — and gives none for any other design. Work a sample and change hook size until the piece lies flat.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed for this design, and none is estimated here.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurement is printed for this design.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 8 as “decrease S tines”; the printed page (book page 40, image p-046.jpg) reads “decrease 8 times”.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads the first scallop row as “d.c. + times in the 2d stitch … you will have 5 shells around the top”; the page reads “d. c. 4 times in the 2d stitch … you will have 8 shells around the top”.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads the leg as “crochet across 20 times”; the page reads the same, so the leg is twenty ridges deep before the foot shaping starts.
• Modernisation note: The book gives no shoe size and no finished length for this bootee, and none is supplied. Work the leg to the depth you want before the foot shaping.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed for this design. The engraving photographs as a plain light thread. White and écru are recorded here as the usual period choices for the thread the book names, not as this design's printed colour.