We all love cardigans don’t we. They are just such an essential part of anyone’s wardrobe, whether it is spring, autumn or winter.

Cardigans are also of course wonderful to knit and there is nothing better than wearing garments that you have made yourself.

Sometimes though we may not want to knit such a big project, but still like the idea of using our knitting skills to make unique clothes for ourselves and our family members.

A friend of mine has been nagging me since forever to knit some pockets to go on pocket less cardigans.

She said that cardigans with no pockets are just rubbish and I had to agree that having somewhere to stuff a tissue is quite useful.

I also had to admit that knitting pockets would be a wonderful way to use up leftover yarn and try out new knitting stitches.

Anyway, you can see the results of the pocket making project by scrolling down.

It was certainly a very fast and fun knitting project.

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Customise a cardigan by knitting pockets!

The cardigans that I chose to customise with knitted pockets were very plain. I bought them ages ago to wear with my Ugg boots and haven’t really got around to wearing them.

I decided to use contrasting colours and attacked my stash to find some suitable yarn.

Having decided to use some chunky yarn, 18 stitches were cast on and I then used stripes and some favourite patterns to create designs for the pockets.

You could use any yarn to knit a pocket to jazz up a cardigan. Simply work out how wide you want the pocket to be and cast on the correct amount of stitches. For my chunky pockets, I used 6mm knitting needles and cast on 18 stitches.

The pocket above features a mixture of chunky alpaca yarn and some handspun yarn which really does make for a unique pocket.

Then simply knit, incorporating any stripes or patterns that you wish to create. Continue until the desired length has been reached and then cast off.

I left a long yarn tail and used this to sew on the hand knit pockets. However, I would recommend using regular cotton sewing thread and needles because unless your cardigan is quite chunky you will make holes.

I can’t remove the pockets from my cardigans now as the yarn that was used to sew them on was far too chunky for the fabric of the cardigans.

That was a bit silly really but hey you can use this tip to not make the same mistake yourself.

More ideas for customising cardigans

There are many ways that you could customise cardigans!

How about sewing on some fancy buttons? This could transform any boring cardigan into an expensive, designer looking piece!

Adding a lace collar would be a great idea for creating a vintage look customised cardigan.

You could knit flowers and sew them onto a cardigan, or make them into a brooch so that you can wear them wherever you wish. How about these knit daffodils to brighten up your spring wardrobe?

I keep saying I’m going to cut off some sleeves and knit new ones in their place. Haven’t got round to attempting that one though. Its a little bit too terrifying sounding!

Of course, you may wish to simply knit a fantastic cardigan from scratch. This cardigan knitting pattern is a best seller on Etsy and I have to say its definitely on my list of must knits. Stunning!

Thanks so much for visiting us today. Please do let us know in the comments if you have any great ideas for customising a cardigan, we would love to hear your ideas!