Father's Day is just hours away. Have you ever offered to make dear old dad a handmade sweater, one sure to become a treasured part of your father's wardrobe? If you were contemplating making such a sweater in 1904, you might have chosen this pattern, from Stitches, a handicraft periodical that you can find at the Library.

After all, as the introductory paragraph explains, what man doesn't yearn for "a knitted house jacket, snug and warm, to be donned in the evening after dinner, when an armchair and a pipe and a blazing fire in the hearth are the acme of happiness? Or what more welcome at the office on chill days?"

Of course, Father's Day didn't even exist in 1904*, so you'd not have felt the pressure for that particular holiday. If any of you brave knitters out there tackle this pattern, I'd love to receive reports back on it. Enjoy! Stay tuned for more patterns from a century ago.

*Britannica Online reports that the first Father's Day celebration was held in 1910.