French Girl Knits by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes

French Girl Knits, by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes (who just friended me on facebook! How cool is that!!), known in the knit and crochet community for her pattern company, French Girl, utilizes inventive combinations of texture, color, and stitch patterns in her fashion-forward, seamless design work featured in her new book, French Girl Knits.

French Girl Knits includes:

Classy, feminine designs fashioned in luxurious yarns that achieve suberb figure-flattering fit with seamless construction—the need for sewing has been eliminated with Kristeen’s one-piece designs.
Four thematic vignettes inspired by French daily life, film, and history: Enfant Sauvage (Wild Child), la Boutique Parisienne (A Vintage Dress Shop in Paris), Dans La Rue (Street Wear), and Creatrice (Creative Woman).
A design workshop featuring in-depth tutorials that teach seamless construction methods featured in French Girl Knits, providing valuable technical information for both beginning and seasoned knitters. You’ll learn how to design in a more organic way, either from the top down, from the hem up, from the back out, and by picking up live stitches when possible.

On her site, FrenchGirlKnits.com you can see Kristeen’s collections as well as her tours. She’s got a mailing list too! If you love these designs, be sure to head over to her site.

You can see a preview of this book and get your own copy on Interweave’s Site, here.

Next Pattern:

When I first started knitting again after a long absence from the craft (which has now been almost 25 years ago!) I really didn’t like garter stitch that much. I found it super boring, somehow even more boring than knitting stockinette stitch in the round, even though it’s exactly the same thing.

Over the years I’ve softened my opinion, and even grown to like garter stitch. There’s nothing wrong with being plain, and actually the texture of garter stitch is more interesting than stockinette.

Also there are fun things you can do with garter stitch to make it more interesting if you want to, such as adding stripes, working on the bias, or doing fun effects to change the look.

That’s the way with the Bernat Twist My Way Garter Knit Blanket. Using combinations of casting on and binding off creates what they call a Swiss cheese effect along two sides of the blanket. This is a lot of fun in the self-striping ombre yarn they chose for the pattern, but it would also be fun in a solid color or making your own stripes.

Despite the dramatic effect, this pattern is rated easy. It’s worked from side to side (if you consider the “cheesy” edges the top and bottom) and has an eight-row repeat that involves binding off and then casting on again to make the holes. They’re kind of like giant buttonholes.

Once you get the hang of it it’s a pretty easy repeat to remember, and it will be smooth knitting as big as you want to make it.

You can download this pattern from the Yarnspirations website for free, or you can buy a kit direct from them that includes the yarn you need (and knitting needles if you need those, too). Bernat Sport Ombre Twist, which is what is used in the pattern, comes in 12 self patterning colors and is a DK weight acrylic yarn.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

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