Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All...

Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes | Elizabeth Zimmermann | My Favorite Knitting Book!

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Knitting Without T...

	Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes Elizabeth Zimmermann Scribners, 1971 - 128 pages average customer review:based on 99 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Revived and reawakened my love of knitting!

What can I say about EZ that has not already been said? She was a wonderful lady who didn't hold back and was passionate about knitting, without apology.

She legitimized my method of knitting when I felt so alone in the world. While I don't share her dislike of the purl stitch, I do like her conversational writing style.

She taught me what a "real sweater" is. And for the first time in my life, I've been enjoying them. She taught me to love wool, a much misrepresented and misunderstood fibre. I love the "bathing a baby" feel of washing handknit socks and real wool sweaters. And the difference in comfort between a real wool _sweater_, and a cotton knit top or an acrylic monstrosity (which I never felt comfortable wearing), is worlds apart.

She taught me independence. There are people who are taught how to KNIT, and people who are spoon fed via patterns. For many years, I was one of those - stuck in a pattern dependency rut, although there was clearly an independent knitter screaming to get out. Understanding the basics, the theories behind shaping garments is essential for understanding knitting in general. She flipped on the light switch for me where that is concerned. Now, instead of "looking for a good pattern" for something, I am using my own head to create, and that is such a good feeling.

Even though I am a visual learner by and large, she explained it much like my grandma would, sitting beside me in the living room beside a warm fire.

This dear lady left a legacy that I am glad her daughter Meg Swanson is carrying on - a love of knitting that will last for generations to come.

My only criticisms, which exist but are not enough for me to remove stars, are that this book is NOT for true beginners, and that it is not visual for those who need many pictures.

If she had been permitted to give her book the title of "The Opinionated Knitter", perhaps people would not have been led to believe that it was a how-to for rank beginners. This was not her fault.

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My Favorite Knitting Book!

This is an excellent book for someone who wants to break free of the "knitting pattern" mold and use their creativity to design their own seamless sweaters. Ms. Zimmerman's candid, humorous narrative and instructions are empowering and make you feel that there are no "mistakes" in knitting. She give terrific, easy to follow guidlines that give you the freedom to put together whatever yarns, stitches or color combinations you can think up and make into a sweater that fits any size. Its perfect for someone who is an intermediate knitter and needs a little push to do their own thing. This book, plus a basic stitch pattern book are all you need to start designing whatever your imagination can come up with. Plus, if you have never knitted a seamless sweater, you will never want to knit a sweater in pieces and stitch it up again after making one!

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Knitting freedom

Have you ever felt frustrated by the limitations of commercial knitting patterns that dictate what yarn and gauge you must use? Do you ever find a great pattern, only to see that it isn't written for your size? Have you ever wondered how the heck the knitters of the past managed to make all those pretty sweaters without patterns?

If so, Elizabeth Zimmermann's humorous, intelligent, even reckless approach to knitting (she cuts into her work! deliberately creates runs! mixes dye lots!) might free you to break loose.

From a deep knowledge of knitting history and technique, Zimmermann demystifies the craft and gives both the instructions and the "permission" a knitter might need to truly make knitting her own.

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fun to read -- BUT

EZ's breezy style is fun and inspiring, it's a good theory book, but her actual patterns are vague and not so easy to follow. I made one of the hats she described and had to do quite a bit of unraveling and puzzling over her instructions to get it to come out decent. For a more specific guide to knitting sweaters in the round, try Ann Budd's "Book of Sweater Patterns".

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

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