I'm excited to introduce you to Florence Merlin, the woman behind Little French Knits, knitting patterns for baby.  While looking through Florence's portfolio, the first thing that caught my eye was her homage to the classic French baby clothes I have long admired.  Little French Knits is all about subtle details and and timeless, petite style.

Florence lives with her teenage children near Lyon, France, in the charming Beaujolais region of Pierres Dorées. Her grandmother taught her to knit at seven years of age and thus began a lifelong love of knitting. As a little girl she spent her free time creating with pearls, wool, and fabric, and even cut her bed sheets to sew clothes! 

When her first child was born, she began knitting in earnest, desiring to create a timeless layette made with love. Creating her own designs was a natural progression, and soon this passionate hobby turned into a ready-to-wear knitwear business.  In a short time, the waiting list for her knitted sweaters and rompers grew so long, it would have taken her years to fulfill! Lucky for us, she instead decided to publish her original patterns and sell them online so now all can make her beautiful designs. Her patterns are available in French and English, and most patterns are available in sizes newborn to 2 years.

Florence believes that if you want to create a beautiful knit, it must start with a great yarn, and the correct yarn selection is vital. She exclusively uses fingering weight yarn in the finest wools, cottons and cashmeres--this is a woman after my own heart! Florence recommends a lovely French yarn, Anny Blatt Baby Blatt for her patterns. As an alternative yarn, I highly recommend my own favorite for baby knits, Rowan Super Fine Merino 4-Ply. A fine cotton alternative would be Rowan Summerlite 4Ply. The recommended yarns are 100% super soft wool (Summerlite is 100% Egyptian Cotton) and all three are machine washable. 

Why not make your next baby sweater a treasured heirloom?  Florence has kindly offered my readers 50% off her entire pattern collection on Ravelry--all sweaters, vests, rompers, booties, and hats are 50% off. This offer is good through the end of August. Upon checkout, use the code KNITIONARY and the discount will be applied.

In an upcoming post I'll show you my own Little French Knit baby sweaters. View the entire collection here, and don't forget to use the code, KNITIONARY. In the meantime, enjoy some of my favorites below.  Aren't they simply beautiful?