I LOVE pockets! I love them for decoration, for keeping my hands warm, and of course a place to put my hands when I have no idea what to do with them! They really add something special to a piece of clothing. How many times have you been out shopping with a friend and hear the words “AND IT HAS POCKETS!!!!" Everyone loves pockets!
Since dabbling in a few of my own designs, I can put a pocket on whatever I like! (Insert evil laugh here) I'm working on a cardigan that has all of the characteristics that would make a cardigan the best cardigan EVER! I want cozy, soft, warm and pockets! Using Biscotte's DK Pure, made with 90% Merino and 10% Silk, we have the softness part taken care of...check check!!
Adding pockets isn't as difficult as you would think. There are many different styles of pockets; however the style that I'll be adding to my awesome cardigan to make it super awesome is vertical side seam pockets. First off we need to decide where to place the pockets so that they will be in just the right spot where your hands would slip right in. Then you need to know how deep you would like them to be so you place them in far enough from the front edge of your cardigan so the pocket lining don't sneak out past the front edges. This would take the super awesome cardigan down quite a few notches to super failed cardigan.....we don't want that!
Once you have reached the length in your cardigan where you want your pocket to start, knit the required amount of stitches in from the front edge. If you would like your pocket to be 4 inches from your front edge and knitting 20 stitches gives you 4 inches, then knit 20 and then stop. Turn your work, assuming we are working on Stockinette stitch, purl the 20 stitches to the end of your work. Place your remaining stitches on hold, or you can leave your held stitches on your Circulars as I did and work the front piece on Double Points since it wasn't a large number of stitches. Continue to do this until your pocket is the length you desire. In my case I want my pocket to be around 5 inches in length. I feel like this will give me a good size pocket to fit my hand.
When you have reached your desired length, break your yarn and place those stitches on hold. I used Needle Point Protectors and left my stitches on my Double Point Needle. Rejoin your yarn and knit across to the other side and repeat what you done for the first side. When the other side is complete and the stitches are on hold, rejoin your yarn and work the middle section to match the length of the 2 front flaps. Break the yarn from the middle section and at this point all 3 sections can be placed back on your needle and will be ready for a right side row where you can just knit across the row which will join all pieces together.
After knitting across the row, each section is joined back together as one and the pocket openings are formed. So easy, right?! This is a technique you could easily adapt to any cardigan pattern that you would like to add pockets to. And the fun hasn't even begun yet! The pocket linings are where you can get creative. You could do a different stitch pattern, a contrasting color or even stripe it up!
Once you are ready to start the pocket, you could just pick up stitches around the pocket edge and work in your desired pattern as shown in the picture above. For the cardigan that I'm working on I've decided to take it one step further to make my pocket look a little more polished. Before knitting the pocket lining I'm knitting a pocket flap. The cuffs and hem on my cardigan is in 2x2 ribbing so I'll knit the flap the same. It's important to pick up the right amount of stitches to get a nice balanced looking edge.
Pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rows and if you need to adjust the amount of stitches you can easily drop one or pick up an extra. I need my number to divide evenly by 4 plus an extra 2 stitches. The reason for the extra 2 stitches is that 2x2 ribbing starts with k2; I will also want it to end with a k2 so that the flap is balanced. It will look like this: (k2, p2) repeat to last 2 stitches and then k2. The flap will start and end with a k2.
Now that the pocket flap is complete, the lining stitches can be picked up along the edges of the pocket opening as shown in the picture previously. Since I have a pocket flap that covers the opening of the pocket more than if I left this step out, I will knit my lining in Stockinette stitch. If you want to have fun with the lining I suggest not having a flap so you can see all the fun inside the pocket!
Knit the pocket lining to your desired length, no further than the cardigan edge and then bind off using the 3 needle bind off. Once all pieces of the pocket are complete we can put it all together. The sides of the pocket flap can be sewn down using the mattress stitch. The inside of the pocket needs a little bit more road mapping to ensure that there isn't any tugging or puckering and it lays nice and flat.
I like to take a thread of contrasting color and pick up every second bump in a straight line before starting as you can see in the top portion of the picture above. This will ensure you get a perfectly straight sewn down lining. Then pick up the stitches on the very edge of the lining and sew together with the bumps on top of the contrasting thread as in the bottom portion of the picture above.
Here we have the inside of the pocket lining. It looks neat and tidy and is also secure. Since it’s a cardigan and the inside is seen almost as much as the outside I always like to make sure the inside looks as tidy as possible.
And here we have the finished pocket!! As you can see, it's not hard to put a pocket on a cardigan; there are more steps and each little step take times but don't you think it's worth it?
Next time you knit a cardigan do you think you will add cozy hand warming pockets?
