This is an antique counterpane re-creation. A friend of mine gave me two broken off squares from a queen-sized bed cover that her great-great grandmother had made when that intrepid lady came to the West and made her living with her knitting needles.

The original was done with 0 size lace needles and #5 crochet thread, and is knit very tightly so that it was thick, heavy, and wore like iron. It lasted nearly a hundred years.

The friend asked me to write up the pattern for the square and eventually commissioned a recreation in red, instead of the original and traditional white. The square turned out to be the perfect cover for a throw pillow.

The pattern is an every other row lace, with puffed out petals, and a panel of eyelets between. There is a passing back and forth of increased stitches at the corners that makes for a very smooth background purl field, and is trickier to describe than to do. The center square is done first, and then each corner is done back and forth, and the crochet finish to the edge is also included in the pattern.

I’ve also included basic construction instructions for a bed cover and a baby blanket that can be made from multiple squares, with the bed cover design taken from the original bedspread. I’ve also mentioned alternate thread possibilities. Acrylic will not work for this pattern.

You’ll need about 1000 yards of cotton for a single square, and 5 #0 US needles and a 24 inch circular needle, as it’s knitted in the round.

And if you do make this, you might end up with something that lasts a hundred years.