This stitch sample is part of an ongoing project by the Cyber Crochet of cgoa chapter on Ravelry.

Stitch patterns may be found in the publication Home Work by A. M. on the website:
http://archive.org/details/cihm_08942
The book is also linked on Ravelry here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/home-work

Direct link to this pattern here:
http://archive.org/stream/cihm_08942#page/n184/mode/1up

Butterfly Table Mats - No. 156 p. 188:

Notes on this pattern:
As written, the pattern makes a very nice bowl. I went by both the picture and the written pattern to make a version that lies flat and is as true to the picture as these old eyes and the resolution on my iPad could make out.

I worked over the starting thread when working the dc on the opposite side of the starting row, perhaps not a best practice in general, but for trying to work out this pattern it came in handy to adjust the tension of the center while completing the later rows of the mat and trying to see what might and might not allow it to block flat.

The ‘sc under starting ch, ch 2’ to start each round sounds strange, but actually does work and match the picture… so I went with it :)

Notes on the sizes and gauge:
My samples were made with a 2-ply cotton described as a {2} Fine weight (or comparable to a #3 thread) and a 2.25mm (B) hook; my gauge came out as:
7 dc/inch and 4 dc-rows/inch.

My gauge with a #10 cotton and a 1.15mm (Bates 10) hook came out as:
10 dc/inch and 5.5 dc-rows/inch.

The original pattern calls for

Macreme twine, No. 6, or tidy cotton No. 6.

and gives no information about gauge or the sizes of the completed mats.

Updates to the pattern as written:
changes to the pattern as written in bold below
(ctrl-click to open in new tab or shift-click to open in new window)
~In US terms~

Medium Mat
ch 27.
Round 1: No changes, just written (hopefully) a bit more clearly: skip 3 ch, dc in ‘top’ loop of next 23 ch, 7 dc in two loops of last ch, dc in remaining two loops on oppsite side of each of the 23 ch, 7 dc in next ch (one of skipped ones at the beginning), sc under the starting ch before the 1st dc.
Round 2: Work as written.
Round 3: Correction: after ‘repeat from * 6 times’ it should say skip 2 dc instead of skip 1.
Rounds 4 - 6: Work as written.
Round 7: (added ch 1 around the 7-dc clusters): chain 2, skip 1 st, dc in each of next 11 dc, {ch 1, skip 4, 7 dc in next, * ch 1, skip 5, 7 dc in next; repeat from * 5 times, ch 1}, skip 3 dc, dc in next 11 dc, repeat between {} once, 1 sc under ch 2.
Round 8: (added ch 3 around the 8-dc clusters): chain 2, skip 1 st, dc in each of next 9 dc, {ch 3, skip 4 dc (the last one on the side, and the first 3 of the 1st cluster), 8 dc in next st, * ch 3 skip 6 dc, 8 dc in next st; repeat from * 5 times ch 3}, skip 4 dc, dc in each of next 9 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 9: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 7 dc, {ch 3 skip 5 dc, 9 dc in next st * ch 1, dc in center ch of ch-3, ch 1, skip 4 dc, 9 dc in next; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 4 dc, dc in each of next 7 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 10: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 5 dc, {ch 3, skip 5 dc, 9 dc in next, * ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc) in dc btwn shells, ch 1, skip 4 dc, 9 dc in next; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 5 dc, dc in each of next 5 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 11: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, {ch 3, skip 5 dc, 10 tr in next, * (dc, ch 1 dc) in sp btwn 2 dc, skip 4 dc, 10 tr in next; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 5 dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 12: All re-written: {ch 3, dc in 2nd dc, ch 3, sc in ch-3 sp, * (ch 3, sc) in each of the 10 tr, ch 3, sc in ch-1 sp between 2-dc; repeat from * 6 times, ch 3, sc in ch-3 sp}, repeat between {} for other side. end with sl st in sc.

Small Mat
The pattern mentions:

There are 5 mats in a set, 1 large, 2 medium, and 2 small; the above is the medum size. The smaller mat has 19 dc in the 1st

and the following 4 pages are missing.
So based on that here is what I came up with for the small mat:
ch 23
Round 1: skip 3 ch, dc in ‘top’ loop of next 19 ch, 7 dc in two loops of last ch, dc in remaining two loops on oppsite side of each of the 19 ch, 7 dc in next ch (one of skipped ones at the beginning), sc under the starting ch before the 1st dc.
Rounds 2 - 7: Work as for the medium mat but with 4 fewer dc on each side.
Round 8: chain 2, skip 1 st, dc in each of next 5 dc, {ch 2, skip 4 dc, 8 dc in next st, * ch 1, dc in ch, ch 1, skip 3 dc, 8 dc in next st; repeat from * 5 times ch 2}, skip 4 dc, dc in each of next 5 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 9: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, {ch 3 skip 4 dc, 9 dc in next st * (dc, ch 1, dc) in dc btwn shells, skip 3 dc, 9 dc in next; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 4 dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Alternate Round 9: (I prefered this one when working with thinner (size 10) thread) ch 2 btwn 3-dc edges and start of shells of ‘wings’, do 8 tr in 4th dc of each 8-dc shell instead of the 9 dc.
Round 10: {ch 3, dc in 2nd dc, ch 3, sc in ch-3 sp, * (ch 3, sc) in each of the 9 dc, ch 3, sc in ch-1 sp; repeat from * 6 times, ch 3, sc in ch-3 sp}, repeat between {} for other side. end with sl st in sc.

Large Mat
The guidance on this one is on the missing pages. I would presume from the difference between the Medium and Small that it would be worked as the Medium Mat but with 27 dc on the starting sides, and would have 14 rounds.

3/18/2013 - Ok, there seems to be a good amount of interest in these Mats, so I am giving the Large one a try based on my assumptions above…

ch 31
Round 1: skip 3 ch, dc in ‘top’ loop of next 27 ch, 7 dc in two loops of last ch, dc in remaining two loops on oppsite side of each of the 27 ch , 7 dc in next ch (one of skipped ones at the beginning), sc under the starting ch before the 1st dc.
Rounds 2 - 10: Work as for the medium mat but with 4 additional dc on each side.
Round 11: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 7 dc, ch 3, {* skip 4 of 9 dc, 10 dc in next st, ch 2, (dc, ch 1, dc) in ch 1 sp, ch 2; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 5 dc, dc in each of next 7 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 12: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 5 dc, ch 3, {* skip 5 of 10 dc, 11 tr in next st, ch 2, (dc, ch 1, dc) in ch 1 sp, ch 2; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 5 dc, dc in each of next 5 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 13: ch 2, skip 1 dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, ch 3, {* skip 5 of 11 tr, 12 tr in next st, ch 2, (tr, ch 2, tr) in ch 1 sp, ch 2; repeat from * 5 times, ch 3}, skip 5 dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, repeat between {} once, sc under ch 2.
Round 14: * ch 3, skip 1 dc, dc in next dc, ch 3, sc in ch-3 sp, (ch 3, sc in next tr) all the way around the ‘wing’, ch 3, sc in ch-3 sp, repeat from * , join with sl st in sc from end of last round.
Alternate Round 14: (I prefered this one when working with thinner (size 10) thread) work as Round 14 but instead of working the sc into the tr between the shells, work sc into the ch-2 spaces between the shells; you get an extra ch-3 loop between shells.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.