Mousquetaire Crochet Collar (Victorian): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• White cotton crochet thread about size 40 (period: Brooks' Goat's-head Crochet Cotton No. 40)
• Sewing needle and the same thread for joining
• 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

sts

stitches

rnd

round

row

row

rep

repeat

sk

skip

Notes before you start

• Source: "Mousquetaire Crochet Collar", 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 Cotton, No. 40. Penelope 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: “Double” is written as dc and “treble” as tr, strictly by the book's lesson (treble crochet: thread “put twice … round the hook”). Check: the flower rounds are small for tr; if they cup, the designer may have meant shorter stitches.
• Modernisation note: “Plain” is written as sl st (see the Stitches step). Check: in the leaf (“2 plain and 2 double for the stalk”) and the band it may mean sc.
• 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: “Work 4 rounds more, the same for each scollop, or 32 for the collar” is unclear; it is read as making 32 flowers of five rounds each.
• Modernisation note: Check: the leaf's Rnd 1 is worked on a ch of 40, but its Rnds 2–4 work round both sides, so “rows” and “rounds” are mixed; stitch counts are not printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the band's first row (“plain 1, chain 40, and repeat”) links the leaf stalks with long chains; the chain length between stalks will depend on how the pieces are arranged in the illustration.
• Modernisation note: The finishing suggestion is ours; the book gives none.
• Modernisation note: The engraving is referred to where the book says so; the directions themselves are complete enough to work from, but placement and joining of separate pieces follow the illustration.