Machine Knitted Pocket Cardigan

This picture had been in my pinterest for forever, and I’ve been very eager to make it. So as soon as I feel that I’ve mastered the skill to make up my own pattern on the bond knitting machine, I gave it a go!

My version (doh, i forgot the sunglasses):

I used up a little over 1 ball of the really big sugar& cream  (or maybe it was Lions) cotton yarns. I know that you are not suppose to use cotton for sweater projects, as cotton sweaters are not drapery, and heavier. However, I cant really see myself wearing something wool or polyester during the summer, as it would just be way too hot. I cant bring myself to invest in bamboo/rayon yarn for a pattern I havent tried out either. But the cotton yarn turned out OKAY. I was able to wash it in the washer without it shrinking much. Its comfortable and seems to shape decently against my body after wearing it a few hours. Its just not as drapery as the simply soft polyester yarn I used in all my previous machine knit sweater though.

Here’s the pattern I made up:

    Tension information: 2.5 tension plate, 2 out of 4 rods inserted at all times

back:

1. cast on 82 stitches with WY, knit 6 rows
2. K 100 rows, mark arm holes
3. K 36 more rows
4. put center 30 stitches on waste yarn – this makes the neck band on the back
5. each shoulder will have 26 stitches
6. knitting 6 rows with WY on each shoulder, then take them off the machine

front:

1. cast on 60 with WY, knit 6 rows
2. knit 36 rows, mark pocket,
3. on the next 2 row, bind off 16 stitches  every other, now you have 44 stitches
4. on the next 18 rows, bind off 1 stitches every row, now you have 26 stitches
5. k 44 rows
6. mark arm holes
7. K 36 more rows
8. of course, when you make the other front piece, make sure the binding off is from the opposite side so you have two symmetrical pieces

Front neckband+pocket edging:

1. join one shoulder and join the other shoulder
2. pick up 114 stitches from each front, 16 on the horizontal, 18 on the decreasing, and 80 for the vertical. hand knit the edges

sleeves:

1. bring out 50 stitches, and hook on between the markers
2. knit 100 time

Finishing:

1. sew the underside of sleeves and also sides of the bodice together. Make sure that you sew the edge of pocket into the body side seam.
2. hand knit the bottom, knit the two sides together to form the bottom of the pocket for the two front pieces while doing so
3. I chose to do I-cord finish with 3 stitches, but you can really do anything you want!

Errata:

There are some stuff I wish I did differently. I think the shoulders should really be wider, or rather, the neck band at the back should be shorter. I would probably make the neck band in the back 20 stitches instead of 30 next time, and each shoulder 31 stitches instead of 26. I also think I might have picked up a few too many stitches in the vertical area of the front edging, the front piece curls in a little bit. Also, next time I might make the back longer than the front. This is because I put so much stuff in the pockets that the front piece gets stretched more than the back.

Anyways, I hope someone out here have a machine and want to make this! 🙂  I know I will probably be making it again in another yarn and making it looser like the inspiration  Having huge pockets like that is seriously awesome when you got a little one that asks for crackers and snacks all the time.

Lastly, I am so proud of little K. Just 1.5 years old and she can pose like a band member: