My favorite thing about Dear Watson is his POCKETS!
For some reason, my little brain is not coded to carry *extra* stuff off-person. Be it a purse, doggie bag (don’t even offer to wrap it), or glasses, if it isn’t in my pocket, it will surely be left behind. It’s a measure of my Passion/Obsession for Knitting that I can even carry a project around without it going up in smoke, but so far, none have gone AWOL…
So, it is in my ultimate Best Interest to put pockets on things that Might Be worn outside. Little Dear Watson, then, was a ripe candidate for the addition of same.
And like any variation on a theme, practice, practice, practice! is the order of the day. I like to think of it like playing the piano – most anyone can pick up Chopsticks the first time out, but a concerto, oh my! I must say, would you rather be Charley Brown or Linus! (whispering)
This hand-knit pocket took 5 versions before I liked it. THEN, it took a bit of pinning to go where I thought it would look best. Everybody is shaped differently across the hips, below the waist. In my family, we look broad from the front and thin from the side – not really very round – more rectangular. So my pockets will hit differently from someone who is shaped, perhaps, more cylindically.
Now comes the fun part! I run a colored *thread* (a piece of yarn brighter than what I knit with which in this case is almost any yarn on the planet) through the row of stitches right above where I want the top of the pocket to be placed.
Then, being a lazy bones, I use a giant safety pin to mark where the side should be, running it through the column of stitches a distance from the front band. I note the number of rows and the number of columns, because in this case, there is Pocket #2 to be attatched later.
Secret Weapon #2: I use a plastic cutting board under the top piece (front) to seperate it from the back of the sweater. Then I can pin to my heart’s content on whatever needs pinning.
“Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary,” said he: to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, I sew this to the garment while I am STANDING UP! I can control the sewing much better from above, on a smooth plane. I put my non-needle hand on the piece being sewn, and slip-stitch the pocket to the sweater, using small stitches, stopping to tighten them (but not pucker) around the edge of the pocket, removing the pins when they get in my way. The Cutting Board allows a firm contact below the two pieces being joined, without distortion to the fabric or damage to my table.
and dear Watson was heard saying as he went his merry way: “I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air
Monday Morning Mirth 
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