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:

The felted slipper craze that began last year doesn’t seem like it’s fading away. The Sailor Slippers, often striped knit and felted slippers made with super bulky yarn, because the project of the moment late last year (check out more knit slipper options in this post all about sailor slippers) and they’re still consistently popular with knitters.

Which makes sense because they are fun and fast to knit, and seeing them go from this giant thing to something that actually fits a foot feels a little magical.

I have always loved felting (in fact my first book was about felting knitting) and it’s always fun for me to see people rediscover this technique.

If you’ve knit enough plain slippers to fit all the feet you know, maybe it’s time to stitch up some tabi style slippers instead.

Maymade Knits has designed these cute tabi ballerina slippers, made with bulky yarn and felted. They’re worked flat at first and then in rounds, and are available in 10 EU sizes (the Internet tells me add 31 to your American shoe size to get your EU size). The designer says the slippers are meant to have a close fit and you should choose a size a little smaller than your foot for the ideal fit.

The pattern includes a video tutorial along with the written pattern.

You can grab this pattern on Ravelry. The same designer has her own version of the striped felted slipper as well, called Sarah’s Striped Slippers. These are worked in super bulky yarn and have a contrasting foot and a striped body. These are knit flat and seamed and there are 7 size options available. Check that pattern out here if you’re looking for a more traditional slipper shape. They also look roomier so you can wear them with socks if you like.

[Photo: Maymade Knits]

Next Pattern:

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