Crochet D'Oyley in Twenty Rounds (Victorian): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• White cotton crochet thread about size 30–40 (period: Brooks' Goat's-head Crochet Thread No. 36)
• Tapestry needle for weaving in ends
• Hook: Start with a 1.0 mm (US steel 12) hook and adjust to suit your thread; the book names Penelope hook No. 5, and no gauge is printed.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

rnd

round

rep

repeat

lp

loop

Notes before you start

• Source: "Crochet D'Oyley", The Ladies' Work-Book, John Cassell, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London (no year printed). Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Brooks' Great Exhibition Prize Goat's-head Crochet Thread, No. 36: and Penelope Crochet Hook, No. 5.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitch names converted to modern US terms strictly by the book's own crochet lesson: “chain” / “ch.” = ch; “slip” / “slip-stitch” = sl st; “single crochet” / “s.c.” = sc; “double crochet” / “double” / “d.c.” = dc; “treble crochet” / “treble” / “t.c.” = tr; “long treble” / “long t.c.” = dtr; “long” / “l.” = dc (one wrap, from the book's “double long … twisting the cotton twice”); “open square” = dc, ch 2, sk 2; “close square” = 3 dc; “diminished” / “contracted” stitch = dc2tog; “miss” = sk; “loop” (of a chain or row) = st. In this book “double crochet” means the same stitch as the modern US dc, and “single crochet” the modern sc.
• Modernisation note: “Treble” is written as tr and “double” as dc, strictly by the book's lesson (treble crochet: thread “put twice … round the hook”). Check: Rnd 1 opens with ch 3, the usual stand-in for a dc; if the rounds look too tall, the designer may have meant a shorter stitch.
• Modernisation note: “Plain 1, and fasten off” at the end of each round is written as sl st and fasten off (see the Stitches step).
• Modernisation note: Period wording modernised: “needle” written as “hook”; “commence” as “begin”; “unite” / “close into a round” as “join into a ring”; “round loop” as “ring”; “receipt” as “directions”; “scollop” as “scallop”. Round and row numbers are kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Printed paragraphs split into one step per round, row or instruction; no stitches, counts or rows added, removed or reordered. Words in square brackets or marked “Check:” are ours, and the printed wording is quoted wherever a reading was needed.
• Modernisation note: Brooks' Great Exhibition Prize Goat's-head Crochet Cotton (and its Knitting Cord) was a period English cotton sold by number; the lower the number, the thicker the cotton. Its numbers do not match modern crochet-thread sizes exactly; the modern size given is an approximate equivalent only.
• Modernisation note: Penelope (and “tapered, indented”) crochet hooks were sold by number; the book notes its own hooks had “the size engraved on every handle”. These numbers have no exact modern equivalent and the book gives no conversion; the modern hook is an approximate starting point only. No gauge is printed.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed and none is estimated.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book does not say where each fastened-off round is rejoined; begin each round at the first stitch it names.
• Modernisation note: Check: Rnd 1 does not say whether the ch 3 counts as one of the 8 tr.
• Modernisation note: Check: Rnd 6 is printed “3 treble at the top of the five treble of last round”, but Rnd 5 ends with groups of 3 tr; read as the 3 tr.
• Modernisation note: Check: Rnd 10 has two groups of 3 tr in each repeat, but Rnds 11 and 12 name only one group; work each group of the round below as described.