Grape and Leaf Altar Lace Filet Crochet Pattern

Book excerpt: Grape & Leaf Altar Lace is a beautiful filet crochet lace pattern, originally written by Minnie Hoffinger in 1920. Symbols of communion, graceful wheat motifs and grape vines surround a cross in the center. A wave-like pattern and simple scallops at the bottom complete the lace. This is not your usual scanned vintage crochet pattern. To make this pattern great for today's crocheter I wrote complete instructions, expanded the written instructions so you won't need to skip around, and made an easy to follow chart. I also changed the written instructions to use modern US crochet terms. The only stitches you need to know to complete this lace are: chain stitch, double crochet, treble crochet, and slip stitch. This lace pattern's rows are done top to bottom. The simple scallops on the bottom are made by decreasing at the beginning of odd rows and increasing at the end of even rows.