Product Description

Do you love to knit -- and hate to purl? Have you ever started a sweater without enough yarn from the same dye lot to finish it? When you cast on, do you end up with a tail of yarn that's maddeningly too long or too short? Elizabeth Zimmermann comes to the rescue with clever solutions to frustrating problems and step-by-step instructions for brilliant, timeless designs.

In Knitting Without Tears, you'll find elegant designs for:

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8781 in Books
• Published on: 1971-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780684135052
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
The New York Times [Elizabeth Zimmermann] brought a penetrating intellect and a sculptor's sensitivity to revolutionizing the ancient art of knitting. -- Review

Review
Vogue KnittingElizabeth taught us to trust our instincts, revel in our creativity and above all, find joy in the simple act of knitting.

The New York Times[Elizabeth Zimmermann] brought a penetrating intellect and a sculptor's sensitivity to revolutionizing the ancient art of knitting.

About the Author
Elizabeth Zimmermann (1910-1999) was born near London, England, and attended art school in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Munich, Germany, before immigrating to the U.S. in 1937. Frustrated by magazine editors who translated her conversational knitting instructions into abbreviated code, she started her own knitting newsletter and launched Schoolhouse Press, a mail-order business that still sells knitting supplies, books, and videos under her daughter Meg Swansen's guiding hand. In the mid-1960s she hosted The Busy Knitter, a nationally syndicated public television show, and by the early 1970s had become an icon of the knitting world. This and her three lively instructional books -- Knitting Around, Knitter's Almanac, and Knitting Workshop -- are treasured by knitters around the world.

Customer Reviews

Not exactly a beginner book
I'm a beginning knitter. I bought this book because I am terrible at following directions and everything I'd read about it indicated that EZ would help you learn to modify patterns so they worked the way you wanted. They were right.

This isn't really a learn how to knit book tho. It's more an introduction to sweater design book. You are walked through several basic styles of seamless sweaters, given a good stern lecture on why gauge is important, and shown pictures and charts you can use as a jumping off point. I would expect a learn how to knit book to cover several styles of knitting, multiple castons and castoffs, and lots of techniques, all with extensive illustrations for those of us who aren't very good with written instructions. This book does not fit the bill. It is one I will consult frequently as I begin to knit my first sweaters.

It works very well in conjunction with Vogue Knitting or one of the other basic learn how to knit books. Don't buy it as the only knitting reference you'll ever need.

edit: 8 years later, I'm still knitting. I still use this book, and have knit several sweaters based on the ideas in it. They're the ones that get *worn*. It is still an entertaining read, despite rereading large chunks 4-5 times a year over the last 8 years.

Indispensable fun for the serious knitter
I'd repeatedly read and heard about Elizabeth Zimmerman (or "EZ" as she was/is fondly known) but never read any of her books. I was, however, skeptical that her books could be as wonderful as they were reputed to be. The photograph on the cover of "Knitting without Tears" did little to entice me; the sweaters looked, well, a bit dowdy and boxy for my taste. Eventually I gave in and bought this book. Now I am a believer. EZ won me over with her very first sentence: "Most people have an obsession; mine is knitting." Somehow she managed to take knitting very seriously without ever taking herself very seriously. The book is full of practical tips and tricks for improving your knitting, conceptual ways to create your own patterns, and EZ's very decided opinions about the craft (worth considering whether or not you agree with them all). Best of all, anecdotes and humorous, often ironic commentary abound. Even if you never knit a seamless sweater, you'll be glad you bought this book.

My knitting took off after learning the method in this book
This knitting book is ground-breaking. Instead of following a pattern line by line (nothing wrong with that, I like to do that) you learn how to create sweaters to fit any body, with any yarn. Why would anyone want to do that? Well, you might have bought 15 balls of yarn on sale and don't know what to make of it. Instead of waiting for a pattern to turn up for that amount of yarn, that weight, etc, you can create your own sweater in various styles to fit anyone, you, a family member or friend.

The Percentage System used in this book is easy to follow: knit a sample of your yarn, carefully measure how many stitches per inch or centimeter, then multiply that gauge times your chest circumference MINUS 10 percent for the ribbing. Increase up to 100 percent and off you go. Soon you will have a yoke style sweater, Norwegian drop shoulder or saddle shoulder, or even raglan style. Such freedom. You can go to yarn sales and as long as you have enough yarn, you can make anything from it.

Right now I am knitting a cotton summer top using this method with some bargain yarn. While this book doesn't have gorgeous color photographs of stylish knits, it does teach you to create your own. After I bought this book, my knitting really took off. Yours might, too.