theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Gretchen (aka Stashdragon) asked me to share how I added the pocket to my Mulled Cider Cardigan.  I am happy to oblige!!

The first thing I did was decide on the location of the pocket.  This is the main advantage of an afterthought pocket: you can try on the garment and place the pocket where you want it.  I also wanted the pocket to end at the top of the ribbing.  Most pockets are placed closer to the side “seam” than to the front edge.  I outlined the pocket position in white thread, which I removed once I decided on exact placement:

The pocket was 28 sts wide.  You simply snip the yarn at the top center point of the pocket, and pull out the sts, placing both the top and bottom sts on knitting needles or holders (or waste yarn).  Also, I recommend marking the same 28 sts at the bottom of the pocket with clip on markers or waste yarn.

My plan was to rip out four rows and then reknit these rows in 2×2 ribbing using a smaller needle, increasing 2 sts to make up the gauge difference.  Then bind off using new yarn.  The following picture shows the two sets of live sts and the strands of yarn I pulled out to reknit in ribbing.

I did all of that but didn’t like the way it looked…so I ripped it out again and knit it back up in reverse stockinette.  Then I added new yarn to knit a ribbed band at the top.  I added the same 2 sts as before for gauge and two additional seam sts on the sides.  This made the pocket a little higher.  Once done, it probably didn’t look any better than the first go around!!  🙁

I seamed the ribbed pocket band to the sweater.  I then attached yarn to the other set of live sts and knit the lining.  I did not count rows, but rather went by look.  When it was long enough, I bound off the sts and sewed the bottom edge along the transition point from ribbing to reverse stockinette.  I sewed the side edges as invisibly as I could using sewing thread.

A note about reverse stockinette: it’s not as easy to work with as regular stockinette IMHO.  It’s usually harder to get a nice seam and it’s harder to sew down a pocket.  There aren’t any bumps to sew into like I did on my Ouzo:

On Ouzo, the pockets were not done as afterthoughts, but the lining still needed to be sewn down.  It is much easier to do when you can use the bumps as camouflage!

I also thought a fabric inner pocket lining would be nice, so keys, etc. don’t poke through the knit fabric.  I will get to that when I get to it!! 🙂