Kristeen Griffin-Grimes - French Girl Knits

Kristeen Griffin - Grimes

Editor, Ann Budd

Art director, Pamela Norman

Cover and interior design, Karla Baker

Photography, Joe Hancock

Technical editor, Lori Gayle

Illustrations, Gayle Ford

Production design, Katherine Jackson

Text and projects 2009 Kristeen Griffin-Grimes

Photography 2009 Joe Hancock

Illustrations 2009 Interweave Press LLC

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Griffin-Grimes, Kristeen, 1947

French girl knits : innovative techniques, romantic details, and feminine designs / Kristeen Griffin-Grimes, author.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59668-069-2 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-59668-801-8 (PDF)

ISBN 978-1-62033-214-6 (ePub)

1. Knitting--Patterns. 2. France--In art. I. Title.

TT825.G6835 2009

746.432041--dc22

2008020564

So many thanks go out to these lovely people who supported me through the writing of this book. I was welcomed like family by the entire Interweave team: Steve, Marilyn, Rebecca, Anne, Annie, Laura, Tiffany, Eunny, and Linda. Deepest gratitude to my editors, Tricia Waddell and Ann Buddyour stellar vision, guidance, and friendship made me doubly thankful to be working with you.

My dear family, Phil, Rain, and Deva kept me afloat in so many ways with their love and wise counsel and are now happy that I can return to being chef de cuisine instead of chef de tricot.

Special thanks to the yarn companies, large and small, that generously provided me with the most beautiful fibers with which to dream and create; I am delighted by our continuing partnership. The French Girl team of knitters who gave their time to work on some designs in this book deserve extra bisous: Monica Welle-Brown (Paloma and Sophia), Emily Munson (Celeste), and Karen Mortensen (Cyble), as well as the test knitters for my design collections: Amy Tyer, Mary Ann Peach, Sheryl Means, Ellen Gowey, and Anne Allgood... merci, mes amis!

When I returned to knitting after a long break, my Rowan sales rep, Sandy Blue, encouraged me to market my designs... her early support set me on a path that lead to writing this book, and for that I am eternally thankful!

I also salute the behind-the-scenes magicians who clipped, curled, and whipped this book into shape: Joe Hancock (photographer), Pamela Norman (art direction), Carol Beaver (stylist), and Catherine Corona (hair and makeup).

Technical editor Lori Gayle deserves my highest and most humble praisethere would be no book without her. The garments I designed were very challenging to translate into multiple sizes due to their unique one-piece construction; she rose to the occasion and smoothed all the wrinkles from my sometimes imperfect effortsbless you Lori!

Thanks also to the many knitters and crocheters who have supported my design company, French Girl, over the last years by purchasing patterns and making up their own dazzling versions.

The shops that carry French Girl patterns also have my deepest thanks. Special hugs to my dear friend Susan Cropper from Loop in London for our shared love of all things gorgeous and girly.

My talented chiropractor kept me (literally) on the straight and narrowthank you, Dr. David Kirdahy!

For allowing me to share their lovely Paris engagement story for Bijou, merci, Andrea and David!

En fin, a petite valentine to our familys adopted home, La Belle France, whose original draw was born in the blood and now lives on through our tours and French Girl. I am forever thankful I was given the opportunity to travel to your shores, dine on the bounty of your land, and have my eyes opened by the enduring beauty of your countryVive la France!

My passion for clothing design began in the 1960s with a skirthumble and faded black with oversized buttonsplucked from the racks of the local Goodwill store. Why my mother chose it for me is still a mystery, considering her love for the glamorous 1940s gowns she wore as a swing-era jazz vocalist. In my cavernous urban school, faced with a gang of sixth-grade girls smartly outfitted in the latest knife-pleated kilts and matching sweaters, my sad little black skirt didnt stand a chance. As I glanced at the tattered buttonholes held together with safety pins, I had a quintessential Scarlett OHara moment, I promised myself, paraphrasing Scarletts words from Gone With the WindIll never wear ugly clothes again!

Along with my sisters, I learned to sew and, through trial (needles plunged into fingers), error (sleeves sewn on inside out and backward), and tribulation, we triumphed. By the time I was fifteen, most of my clothes were Vogue Originals translated into the fabrics of the day, as well as some garments fashioned from my own imaginings. Learning to knit, crochet, and spin soon followed during my back-to-the-land days in the 1970s.

New World French culture settled deep in my bones as I was growing upa lively mlange of aromatic Cajun gumbo and New Orleans jazz tunes that found its way into every corner of our familys sprawling Seattle home. The mystique of my mothers exotic childhood saturated my early life as well. Her recollections of singing in the smoke-tinged French quarter jazz clubs of the 1930s all seemed terribly romantic. When I was very young I longed to visit the French motherland. I spent hours tracing its roughly hexagonal borders in the well-worn atlas or trying to speak a faux French gleaned from the few phrases my parents tossed back and forth.

Many years later, my own family of four crossed the border into France for the first time and something that had long been dormant switched on. I had at last found a place that made sense, one that elevated the ordinary into art: the perfectly mounded, Rubenesque aubergines glistening in the sun at midday market; the precisely decorated shop windows displaying petite childrens shoes, classic shaving brushes, and frilly seed packets. I began to understand more fully what could be done with very little. The French were masters of an art that had nothing to do with money and everything to do with an appreciation of the small, lovely moments in life.

After days spent trying to capture that illusive French aesthetic on film and notepad, my mind buzzing with sensual overload, I returned home deeply inspired to infuse my life with all things beautiful. This soon translated into a rejuvenated interest in the needle arts and the luscious fibers that had begun to appear in the marketplace. New-to-me yarns from esteemed British merchant Rowan beckoned; vibrant hand-dyeds from South Americas Manos del Uruguay sealed the deal. After hours of dreaming and planning, I launched my design company, French Girl, in 2005. It has now expanded to include the tours our family leads in the French countryside, sharing our passion for