PocketMod!
When we last saw my recently finished dress, I was lamenting the issue with the pockets – specifically, the fact that the dress grew in length during the blocking so that only my fingertips really reached into the pockets, rendering them more useless than ever.
While I am a process knitter, I was really not looking forward to possibly ripping out half the dress just to “fix” the pocket placement. While pondering my dilemma, I figured perhaps I could pick up some stitches instead, and artificially add some depth to the pockets…after fussing about with it for a bit, I finally settled on picking up stitches across the top of the existing pockets, and then knitting upwards as if I was knitting a patch pocket, following the shaping as knitted on the dress. To tie it together, I added fairisle components to match the yoke and hem elements, and finished it off with the same contrasting hem that I used at all other edges on the dress.
Once bound off, the pocket was carefully seamed onto the dress – Surprisingly, I found this bit almost more time consuming than knitting the pocketmod flaps themselves! Since the dress is knit seamlessly and with variegated handspun, I had a hard time keeping track of rows/columns of stitches for seaming purposes…either that or my poor eyesight is starting to get the better of me. I just hope that with continued wearing the dress doesn’t continue to lengthen. Now that the pocketmods are seamed and the ends are woven in, picking out the top hem of the pocket to lengthen it again is going to be a challenge!
I have to say, I’m rather happy with how I resolved my pocket dilemma – I can now happily nest my whole hand inside the pockets, and the modifications don’t look like some crazy afterthought fix 🙂 (at least I don’t think so)…
Be the boss of your knitting, and don’t be afraid to experiment – patterns are guidelines, and it’s just yarn 😉
I love this so much. You’re such a skilled and creative knitter!
I know this is an old post, but wanted to say thanks for sharing this. I am just getting ready to start this pattern and have been reading up on other people’s experiences with it before committing myself. What a brilliant fix! You are not the first person to warn that this fabric will stretch significantly with blocking. I am forewarned!