Road to Freedom

Design your own, size it right, and leave patterns behind!

The Opinionated Knitter

I didn't graduate from high school until 1969, so I didn't have the opportunity of being one of Elizabeth's original subscribers. However, in the early 1980's I discovered Elizabeth Zimmermann and the wonderful things she did with knitting -- I was hooked for life. I bought a huge stack of reprinted Newsletters and Spun-Outs (the directions-only Newsletter off-prints), studied them, knit myself and my children all sorts of things based on her instructions, and, well, simply allowed her love of yarn and handcraft to feed my soul. Her best-loved and most oft-knit classic designs are all included in The Opinionated Knitter , along with notes about improvements and "unventions" she added later.

These newsletters are really where our modern Joy of Knitting got its start. Elizabeth's voice became the voice all of us who love creating with wool and needles now share -- the voice of joyful discovery of form, texture, color, design and innovative, straightforward construction. It is hard to imagine how the vibrant knitting community that now exists could have developed had Elizabeth Zimmermann not determined to share her enthusiasm and techniques with all of us. If someone ever builds a Knitter's Hall of Fame, her typewriter should be enshrined at the front door for all to see and honor.

In addition to facsimile reproductions of each and every newsletter sent out from rural Wisconsin during the decade, you'll also find color and black-and-white photos of her garments and her family; wonderful commentary by her daughter, Meg Swansen; and bits and pieces from letters and journals Elizabeth wrote than offer a warm context to her work, her designs and her life.

I have spent several hours basking in the pages of this book and have come nowhere near exhausting my interest or its possibilities. This is a volume we all want on our shelves - though in my case, I keep pulling it off to have just "one more" look. I expect you will, too.

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop - Book

Elizabeth's Knitting Workshop book provides the basic material of her PBS Series in written form. Great by itself or as a way to reinforce what Elizabeth just showed you - this book is not just a classic, it is perhaps the most comprehensive, easy-to-follow knitting how-to ever written. Go from beginner to master in a little under 200 pages!

Knitting Around

What a feast of a book this one is! There are nine of my favorite Elizabeth Zimmermann designs, clearly explained with copious photos showing every bit of technique and construction you might ever have a question about. Here is Elizabeth's final word -- and most detailed and useful explanation -- on her E.P.S. system of sweater design. And each design has multiple possible variations, as well. Why, there's even a Pablo Neruda poem, "Ode to My Socks" to accompany her Wearable Art Socks!

And then there are the Digressions, where Elizabeth talks about her life in what is to us a very different time and place. How she began in England, born 1910, in a home with maids and nannies; her homeschooling by governesses; her art education in Lausanne and Munich (we discovered that she lived about 2 blocks from where Bob lived when he was working there); her meeting with Arnold, the move to America, children and how her life as a knitter's knitter got its start.

And the photographs, paintings and drawings, taken from the full course of her life! My! It's like a tour of Europe through a time machine -- wonderful stuff!

If you don't already have this one on your shelves, keeping your other Zimmermann books company, you'll want it. A gift to both heart and hands.

Latvian Dreams

Latvian Dreams is a unique book in that it is as much about charting your own course as a knitter as it is about exploring Latvian textile design as a source of magnificent knitted creations. In fact, Joyce Williams' book is so densely packed with both sorts of information that it alone could easily supply inspiration and discovery for years of knitting.

As a conservator of traditional heritage (she is not Lativian, but does love these Latvian weaving charts), Joyce Williams as done nothing less than save these charts from extinction. She found them in books published in 1950, during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, and knew immediately that though intended for the loom, they would also make beautiful knitwear. In the process of copying them for her own use, one thing led to another and she found herself knitting and designing for all of us. Thus was this book born.

And, speaking of knitting out of the box, these designs are really something. There are socks with a heel so different that it's copywritten; Joyce discovered the joys of using two circular needles for socks, sleeves and other small diameter things just minutes before Cat Bordhi did; her construction techniques and use of design elements can teach all of us so much.

However, in my estimation, the most valuable thing about Latvian Dreams is that Joyce Williams devotes an enormous amount of her book to discussing how and why she arrived at a technique, design choice, etc. -- with an eye to giving us the information we need to go our own way, in whatever direction we choose. In fact, she is so grateful for the freedom she found through Elizabeth Zimmerman's work that she is determined to carry her knitting readers into those same clear blue skies of personal design -- and then some. For instance, after clearly and completely discussing the hows and whys of determining one's gauge, she then goes on to explain why she never does a gauge swatch anymore, how that change came about, and gives some guidelines as to when it most likely isn't necessary. My kind of woman!