Kristeen Griffin-Grimes loves knitting and all things French. The second of her French Girl Knits: Accessories has just arrived and it is a charmer.

The book includes many appealing projects like the Tattoo shawl, “the perfect modern wrap…with a dose of French gothic mystique”. This wispy and elegant creation features an ostrich-plume-stitch pattern in fine silk/mohair yarn.

There are patterns for many chic hats as well as lacy anklets and long blanche-neige stockings. Dainty ballet slippers are worked up in watermelon red silk and merino yarn. They have a buttoned strap and black velvet ribbon wound through a lacy edging.

Her first book (shown below) offers patterns for sweaters, dresses and vests with boho chic design aesthetic.

Creating a French-inspired life is the mantra of her website that includes blogs on knitting and cooking as well as information about tours of France in the Languedoc region that she leads. On her website, I also found a wonderful video on scarf tying that I am planning to revisit. It was an “aha, so that’s how you do it” moment. Check it out.

- Jane

Two new books on paper craft offer a wealth of inspiration for crafty thinkers. Some of these projects are suitable for older children who want to make their own gifts or lend a hand with Christmas decorating.

Paper Made! shows how to work with everything from candy wrappers to ticket stubs.

Small pieces of folded graph paper are pasted onto a round Chinese paper lantern. Light shining through this fixture makes a complex interplay of shadow and texture.

Old maps are snipped into birds with lacy wings and tails and assembled into a charming mobile. Maps also wrap the mats of framed travel photos.

What to do with a partial deck? Leftover playing cards are sewn together with zigzag stitch and attached to wire rings to create an imaginative lampshade.

Frank Gehry built iconic furniture from cardboard. Now, it’s your turn. Transform used cardboard into an end table, picture frame or curio shelf.

Book Art offers some fabulous projects which include clever Christmas decorations. The winter village scene which you see pictured on the cover has a fairytale quality when displayed with candles or cut crystal.

From an old book come curvy, sculptural ornaments. The spine of the book forms the core of the ornament with the cut pages fanning out from the central spine.

Strips of thicker paper are shaped into delicate, tasseled baubles. Circles cut from the colourful pages of a brochure create a spiky decoration. Silver leaf is rubbed onto the pages of a book from which oak leaves and acorns are formed. They can be tied with pretty ribbon to wrap a gift or dangle from a tree.

-Jane

Forgive the C-word, but Christmas is almost upon us. For workers in retail, the season arrived many weeks ago. However, no need to panic; it’s still not too late to work up a few gifts from the heart and give retail Christmas a rest.

Geek Chic Crochet shows you how to create 35 retro-inspired projects. You could whip up a bright red crocheted tie for the cool man in your life and cute colourful hair bows for your best girlfriends. The book tackles peter pan collars and neckerchiefs. And you could also channel Madonna with vintage lace gloves. (Is Madonna vintage yet?)

Warm Little Knits is another new title that provides patterns for classic Norwegian knitwear. Cozy socks and mittens feature a lively combo of stylized birds, flowers and geometric patterns. I'm thinking that it might be easier to embrace outdoor winter life with the stylish accessories of hardy Nordic people.

I browsed through the collection of crochet books and found a couple of older titles filled with many projects that appeal to me.

Super Cute: 25 Amigurumi Animals shows you how to make delightful stuffed toys. The designs are influenced by traditional Japanese doll culture crossed with the Japanese “kawaii” culture that produced Hello Kitty and manga. There are bears and bunnies, puppies with berets and fish with googly eyes.

Cool Crocheted Hats offers instructions to make a retro Rasta hat for both men and women. You could choose the Festival Olé pillbox hat with a zigzag brim and a variegated crown or an exotic Kufi-styled crown cap reminiscent of 1920s Morocco. All very Boho chic.

- Jane

During October, fiber artist, Susan Kristoferson, has an exhibition of collages of floral bouquets on the main floor of the Central library. They are composed of the beautiful papers that she makes in her home studio. Her collages reminded me of the wonderful biography of Mary Delany whose work is now housed in the British Museum.

Susan specializes in itajime paper made by a fold-and-dye technique traditional to Japan and painted paste papers. These are contemporary versions of papers used by 17^th Century European bookbinders. Last month, she led the altered book workshop at Central. If you missed it here, you still have time to catch it at the branches.

Our collection contains a wide selection of books on paper making and paper crafts and I am blown away by the many lovely and inventive things that can be created with paper.

I first met Susan several years ago when she was a featured artist on the Triangle Gallery’s (now MOCA) House + Studio Tour and bought a pair of her earrings.

If you want to try your hand at creating paper jewelry, here are two books to inspire you.

Handmade Paper Jewelry includes a locket covered in fancy gift-wrap paper which encloses tiny photos. Glass beads and a decorative toggle closure enhance the necklace (p. 38).

Creative Paper Jewelry demonstrates the creation of pulp paper beads that are combined with cords, chains and ribbons to make charming and fanciful pieces.

- Jane

If you are clever with needles and yarn (or want to be), here is a new book to help you cozy up your home for autumn. The Knitted Home: hand-knitted projects room by room presents charming knits for nine different rooms and the garden.

For the kitchen, a tea cozy topped with a sweet posy of roses will keep the brew warm while adding a pretty touch to the tea tray. You can see it pictured on the cover of the book.

A knitted cover for a hot-water bottle sports a textured pattern. Although it’s featured with accessories for a bedroom, I think this would make a nifty gift for someone who likes to go camping.

Butterflies and flowers are attached to long cords to decorate a window. A butterfly is the large central motif on a cushion cover bordered with three-dimensional flowers.

The seaweed door curtain makes imaginative use of crochet which twists and twirls in long strands made from varying hues of mercerized cotton.

For the nursery, the characters from traditional rhymes and tales inspire playful accessories. Humpty Dumpty sits on the knitted wall of a storage bag for small toys. He can also be detached for play. Three little polka-dot pigs hang on a mobile that includes a knitted hut where they all tuck in for bedtime.

Each project includes clear instructions. At the back of the book, basic techniques for knitting and crochet outline the skills needed to get things started. Special methods, such as felting, embroidery and intarsia are illustrated there as well.

-Jane

If you’re looking for quick ways to add a little pizzazz to your palace, check out the new title from Sunset: Make it Your Own Paint & Color: 50 easy weekend projects. For the most part, they mine familiar DIY veins; but some of their projects are eye catchers. All of them are well illustrated with step-by-step instructions. These are some of the things I liked the best:

• A painted stair runner pops some colour to the climb and coordinates with the area rug at the foot of the stairs.
• A pretty, girlie room has a floor painted with broad pink, rose and mauve stripes.
• The blackboard wall is a staple that is more or less attractive depending on what has been chalked onto the surface. Here they offer a formula for creating a chalkboard with any colour of paint and show a lively chalkboard wall in soft green-gray.
• A simple leafy branch is stenciled onto a plain white roller blind.
• Maps cover a wall like wallpaper in a patchwork pattern. (I’m always attracted to projects featuring maps.)

I’ve said it before and I still believe it: happiness is a can of paint and a brush.

- Jane

If you love colour and craft and reclaiming vintage furniture, you will enjoy the rooms created by interior stylist Selina Lake. In her new book, Homespun Style, she celebrates the power of hand-made furnishings to create homes that are personal and distinctive as well as welcoming.

She takes “a modern approach to craft” favouring simple creations over tricky techniques. The contemporary shape of a swivel chair is transformed by a funky, over-sized granny square afghan that is casually wrapped around it. Colourful textiles are made into easy cushion covers or simply draped.

The look is light-hearted and casual. In a cheerful dining area, candy-hued finishes are painted onto mismatched chairs. The walls are decorated with pop art trimmed with swags of pin lights and coloured beads. Above the arrangement hangs a bunting of pretty handkerchiefs knotted together at the corners.

Old light fixtures are redeemed with a splash of flowers painted on a lampshade or ribbon streamers fluttering from a chandelier. A modern chest of drawers was customized by refinishing the drawer fronts with pastel paint and vintage wallpaper.

She also demonstrates how to make eye-catching, still-life arrangements from favourite objects.

Lake insists that applying your passion for handiwork to your home does not mean that you need to be handy. She advocates support of your local artist and craftsperson. And good on her.

I’m thinking that if you admire their artistic ablility or tricky techniques mastered, you should be happy to pay for them.

- Jane

This week, a trio of craft books arrived and they’re all pretty with pink.

First, from textile designer and “Queen of Quilting”, comes Quilts from the House of Tula Pink. Her namesake colour appears on the Fade-to-Pink quilt where the design features a gradual transition from one colour to another.

Pink reappears as a punch of colour on the Lollipops Pillow. Here, scraps of fabric cover buttons that are applied to a stitched pattern on a neutral background. The Beanstalks quilt is another charmer where the pop of pink adds excitement to a whimsical pattern.

Quilted Gifts from your Scraps & Stash invites you to use your collection of fabric ends to create a wide variety of pretty projects.

Ruffled fabric roses embellish the patchwork pillow you see on the cover of the book. Narrow pink and violet fabric stripes separate wider sections of floral fabrics to make attractive placemats. Pink energizes a tote bag designed with lots of pockets and trimmed with apple-green rickrack braid.

In Flower Power Patchwork, you find the power of pink in many other clever projects. Pink prints are mixed on a fabric-covered notebook, cute little pincushions and zigzag chair cushions.

All of these lovely books feature good photos and step-by-step instructions.

While sipping ice tea on your sunny summer deck, you can plan some nifty projects for rainy days and colder months.

- Jane

Today's blog comes from Janet Millett, Central Library staff:

Many of us in Calgary feel lucky to live both close to the mountains and to the prairies. However, for gardeners, this often means a double whammy of cold nights and short growing seasons along with the odd freak snowstorm, droughts and dry dusty winds. In other words, growing lush gardens bursting with colour can be a challenge.

Luckily, you don’t have to despair too much about sparse underperforming gardens. Calgary Public Library has a book called Painted Garden Art, by artist Lin Wellford, that allows you to take matters into your own hands. This book will show you how to turn stepping stones into butterfly walkways or cast stone blocks into elegant baskets of colorful blooms. Stone edgings can become a parade of pachyderms or a vibrant caterpillar.

You can also work magic with different sizes and shapes of rocks to scatter turtles, frogs, lizards and even fish ponds throughout the bare spots. And the really great thing about this book is that it’s very easy to paint these artistic creations. Many of the designs are basic and there are step-by-step illustrated directions provided.

Whether nature cooperates or not, it’s good to know that there is more than one way to create and enjoy an interesting and vibrant garden space.

- Jan

Today's blog comes from David Ramsey, Central Library staff:

Do you find today’s mass market furniture too commonplace? Are you looking for seating with a unique style? Are you bored with IKEA ubiquity?

Check out a recent addition to the Arts collection: Furniture with Soul: Master Woodworkers and their Craft by David Savage.

The author, whose work is also profiled, delves into the lives and work of ten furniture makers. No assembly-line designs for them; these creative types eschew the ordinary. For these artisans, form follows function – but at a distance and with a detour or two.

These innovators tapped their imaginations in the creation of a wide range of furniture. And what imaginations they have! Inspiration comes from many sources including nature, civil engineering and modern media.

These talented woodworkers could have followed the straight and narrow and produced conventional pieces; but something inspired them to change course, be it flora or fauna, whimsy or fantasy. They followed their hearts and forged a new path.

Their designs require labour-intensive, exacting work, not suited to endless copies. The pieces produced according to their heart’s calling are rich in detail which couldn't be justified on a purely functional chair or table for mass production.

Some call them furniture sculptors. Is their work art or craft? Can an art form have function?

Maybe it depends on the amount of soul….

- Dave