knittyBlog: Immersing myself in EZ

Friday, August 25, 2006

Immersing myself in EZ

It started with a last little bit of writing for No Sheep this week. Elizabeth Zimmermann came to me in a rare lucid moment as the perfect solution for the prose-based challenge at hand. That made me pull out my very small EZ collection. I read Knitting Without Tears and Knitter's Almanac the first two nights. Wednesday, I bought The Opinionated Knitter at the LK s&b and devoured that. Today, Knitting Around.

Does everyone who knits now know just how much they owe to EZ? She pretty much reinvented our craft and turned generations of blind followers into knitwear designers.

Damn, I wish I could have met her.

Comments:

We're knitters, we can figure out cables and lace and other 'fiddly' things, certainly we could figure out how to time travel to see past knitters! Well, it sounded good to me. :)

# posted by

Karen : 10:35 PM, August 25, 2006

You know, I have yet to read Zimmerman's books, so maybe I'm overreacting (huh? me?), but I just hate that term "blind followers." It's so condescending.

# posted by

Danielle : 11:45 PM, August 25, 2006

I know--I so wish I could have met her--isn't it weird when someone you've never met impacts what you do, every day?

# posted by

Amy O'Neill Houck : 1:01 AM, August 26, 2006

I so agree with you. I became aware of EZ about 1971 and even subscribed to her newsletter. Her attitude, wisdom, and plan ol' common sense were compelling. And I recall being impressed by the NYT obit when she died. The more I read her books and learn about how she responded to her life's challenges and savored every moment, the more I stand in awe. As we all should. Thanks, Amy, for reminding us.

# posted by

Luise : 1:32 AM, August 26, 2006

Doesn't reading her feel like hanging out the mother you always wanted? And I have the best mom in the world, and I still say that about EZ. Don't you feel comforted and smart and lovely? I only really fell in love with her last year, and I'm head over heels.

# posted by

Rachael : 3:48 AM, August 26, 2006

for a woman who knit so many wonderful things and unvented just about everything going, she certainly had a full life away from the needles! i love the journal entries in tOK when she's camping with the gaffer and writing with a pen that may or may not work.

# posted by

Rocketbride : 7:51 AM, August 26, 2006

I was fortunate enough to have met her as a child. She was a remarkable woman...and my admiration--as a young woman--was not for her knitting abilities.

# posted by

Kathleen : 8:16 AM, August 26, 2006

I owe that woman everything!

# posted by

Adrian : 9:16 AM, August 26, 2006

Knitting Around is my very favorite - I read it at the most stressful time, and even thinking about how reasonable, funny and knitterly EZ sounds in that book never fails to bring a smile to my face.

# posted by

Donna : 10:29 AM, August 26, 2006

You know, when I was a very young and naive knitter, EZ's books didn't look interesting at all. They seemed out of date and downright boring. Until,that is, I started writing patterns and the light came on. She had an amazing knack for making it all so simple. And she encourages us all still. A grand lady indeed.

# posted by

Lisa : 10:41 AM, August 26, 2006

You know that you can hear EZ reading her Digressions from Knitting Around, don't you? The audio tape is available from Meg at Schoolhouse Press. It is listed under Non-knintting books. What a delight to those of us who missed meeting her.

# posted by

Marilyn B : 8:50 AM, August 27, 2006

Once upon a time, in a yarn shop in Dover, New Hampshire, I was pawing through the usual box on the floor of half-price patterns. There was EZ's Knitting Without Tears, a little tattered, with a sticker on the front saying "Store Copy." I opened it, and EZ had signed it on the title page. Just "Elizabeth Zimmermann .", with the period, and in strong, forthright, still-black ink. For $4.25, I feel as though I own a piece of history.

# posted by

enallagma9 : 11:05 AM, August 27, 2006

Not related to your topic of today at all, but - I recently saw some nifty knitted shorts on Live Journal Knitting called "Girly Boxers." Is that your design and, if so, how can I get it? At last, thought I, a knitted something that my daughters would really like. I'm at mkb_all@yahoo.com. I hope my request does not break some sort of internet protocol, but I wasn't sure how else to ask.

# posted by

Mary K. in Rockport : 2:25 PM, August 27, 2006

Not at all related, but I've found an error in the pattern for "Jamesey". The email address listed for Mary Neal Meador (pattern author) is incorrect. How do I go about getting the pattern corrected. I'd also like to be able to contact Mary Neal to make sure that my "fix" is correct. Thanks!

# posted by

Katie : 9:20 AM, August 28, 2006

I just recently read Zimmerman (Knitting Without Tears) for the first time. It's a wonderful book, wonderfully written, but I'm not sure it's fair to give her all credit for releasing knitters from the pattern! I learnt to knit as a teenager and I have NEVER knit a pattern as it was meant to be made - in fact I've only twice knit from a pattern at all (with totally different yarn and plenty of tweaks); I always design my own projects. Until a few years ago I'd barely heard of Elizabeth Zimmerman - she doesn't have the same ubiquity overseas that she does in the US. So actually, having become aware of the Zimmerman cult, I was almost (I say almost! Call off your dogs!) disappointed in the book; I had hoped for... more. I do love it, I love the simplicity of her approach and the warmth and humour of her writing, but it isn't the bible I'd come to expect.

Just a different perspective for you. No disrespect intended to a clearly delightful knitter and teacher.

# posted by

ScroobiousScrivener : 8:05 AM, August 29, 2006

I don't think it's just that she was big on freeing people from patterns. I'm kind of tired of hearing that, actually, as well as the usual old gripe (I call it a gripe only from those who haven't actually read EZ) that the knitter in question doesn't need to be freed from anything. Neither do/did I, but that's not the point, I think.

As the previous commenter points out, I think our generation of knitters and designers doesn't have much issue with this (though we should thank our feminist forebears, EZ among them IMHO, for a lot of this natural ease we have with doing whatever we want when we want it!), but there's just so much MORE to EZ: her designs are STILL innovative decades later, for both the techniques she introduced, and the designs themselves, which are universal or classic in style (though a lot of the photography in her books could stand to be updated, so that some imagination is now required). How many designers can say that?! High on the list for me is that every one of her books is frickin' hilarious - how many instructional books of any kind, at any time, can say that? And it's true wit, not cheap cracks, that makes her writing funny. She was an incredible role model in life as well as knitting - again, how many other designers who are also brilliant, creative, good writers have ALSO had that kind of impact? She's just unique, and I don't think it's a slight to the generations of incredibly diverse and talented designers that are still coming now to admit that and give her credit for all these things, in no small part because she helped to establish a place for these designers, literally creating respect and certain high expectations for knitting pattern designers where there had been none.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it (full disclosure: I'm a historian of gender).

I personally re-read the Almanac and Knitting Around on a regular basis, just to hang out with the Zimmermanns. I'm so grateful that the Almanac is published in that tiny, light little volume that I can take with me whenever I travel for long periods of time!

So we can hear her reading the Digressions, huh?? Now I know what I want for christmas..!!

[Note: I apologize if this gets posted more than once - it's not me being obnoxious, it's blogger flipping out, once again...]

# posted by

Kate A. : 11:41 AM, August 29, 2006

"sigh" I wish I had some EZ books. I've read excerpts, I love her. I don't have the $$ tho!
I've had the hardest time finding them too. I've gone to all the yarn shops in the valley (excepting one, I loath that place. Too bad Stephanie is speaking there.) I've gone to B&N and all their ilk.
The only place I can find all of them is the printer. And DAMN they're expensive.

# posted by

Knitty Cat : 2:48 PM, August 29, 2006

Friday, August 25, 2006

Immersing myself in EZ

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