Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

French Girl Knits by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes

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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.

Have you read?

Stitch a Simple Sack Hat that Looks Like a Turkey

If your family is the sort to do a turkey trot for Thanksgiving, or even just to take family pictures, you’ll want to get started knitting up some Turkey Sack Hats with this pattern from Underground Crafter. 

The pattern uses super bulky yarn and is rated easy. It’s knit flat but there are a few skills in here around the shaping of the eyes, which includes changing colors, working bobbles and doing a wicked purl 3 together decrease. Twice. 

But that’s all in one row, and the rest of it is pretty simple. The beak is worked separately and sewn on, and the side of the hat is stitched up to make it into a hat. 

What’s great about this one is that it comes in 10 sizes, ranging from newborn to adult large, so you really can make one for everyone in the family. And because it uses super bulky yarn you can knit a bunch pretty quickly if that’s a thing you’d like to do. 

It’s also fun because you could use this base pattern to make different animals or for different holidays. Make it all in orange and stitch on a jack o’lantern face for Halloween, or make a white one that’s a snowman, for example. 

In any style this would also be a fun gag gift for that person in your life who has everything or doesn’t want gifts, or if you do a secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange at work or elsewhere. 

And make sure whether you’re making it a turkey or some other character that you include the pom poms at the top! They’re just so cure and a great way to add a bit more color to the project, and they’re easy to make. (See also: ways to make a pompom with yarn.)

You can grab the free pattern at the Underground Crafter website. 

[Photo: Underground Crafter]