Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I purchased this book through Amazon without ever having seen the book or leafed through it in-person. When it arrived at my door, I eagerly opened the cover and flipped through the pages with giddy anticipation. I am a passionate knitter, I've knit since before I could read, but this was my first time owning a book by the famed and revered Elizabeth Zimmermann. But my initial response? Sadly disappointed! Afterall, where were the bright glossy photos and the fun, bold typesetting found in the garden-variety of knitting books today? What I found was pages and pages of continuous text. Well, it is a book afterall.

My curiousity got the best of me, later that night I found myself curled up in bed reading the book. My initial response of disappointment could not have been further from the truth! After immersing myself into just a few pages, I felt like I had sat down to knit with an old friend. Zimmermann's candid and frank writing style brought me a smile and more than a knowing laugh or two as she shares her knitting wisdom. Yet, there is a sophistication to her writing that leaves the reader drawn into the pages, finding each new tip or bit of advice as something to savor.

Even the rudimentary skills of knitting come into new light within her chatty, and sometimes unabashedly opinionated, pages. I loved and applauded her stern lecture on the importance of gauge. (Yes, an entire chapter all its own, and rightly so!) Gauge is the golden key to the door of knitting design. Yet it is something so often overlooked by new or impatient knitters, and often with ghastly, disappointing results.

Step by step in a narrative, familiar style, she covers the tools of the knitting trade, needles, yarns, skills, and of course, her passion for knitting. All given with tidbits of enlightment even for the experienced knitter. Then gently, she takes the reader to a new path of creativity with clear guidance and instructions to explore nearly endless options of pattern and design. She does this by laying a simply, methodical ground work for the form and shape of any sweater. You can then take that skeletal form and emboss it to your heart's content with your own stitches, designs, color work, originality, and style. I have fallen even more in love with circular after reading this book, and I find the seamless, ease of style, even more liberating.

The focus is on sweater design, but really, you can take these skills to any facet of your knitting. She even covers a sampling of other projects, hats, mittens, afghans, even skirts! I found the details of what makes a sweater into a coat interesting. The section entitled "A Few Remarks on Socks" makes the book worth its price alone! The photos and details of just different knitted heel types were fascinating and most helpful. The "few remarks" are actually a few pages of detailed, fool-proof instruction which I fould both instructional and inspiring for sock knitting.

What can I say, I LOVED the book. I found it a necessary jewel for any knitter's library. I'd suggest that very new beginners to knitting will want to learn to cast on, knit and purl comfortably before digging into this treasure of a find. Once you have those basics down, however, do dive into this book with glee!

As stated by the author herself, "Really, all you need to become a good knitter is common sense...of course superior intelligence, such as yours and mine, is an advantage." And that is Elizabeth Zimmermann for you!

If you are looking for a good how to knit book, with step-by-step instructions on the basics this book isn't it. It is a wonderful book--take a look at it once you've mastered the basics and are ready to move past patterns and create something entirely your own.

This book is an absolute must-have if you really love knitting. It's filled with so many practical tips and hints that your average how-to book just doesn't cover. This isn't directed towards the newbie, it is NOT a "learn to knit" book. But if you have a basic understanding of knitting, love the craft, and want to become even more skillful, this book is for you. Even if for no other reason, you must own it for the completely SEAMLESS SWEATER pattern... it's SO much easier that you would ever think!! EZ had a talent for writing in such a way that she makes you feel like you have a seasoned knitter right there with you as you navigate your way through knitting. This book is a wonderful "friend" as you further your skills. After I read it, I seriously had a boost of confidence in my own knitting.

I had heard of Elizabeth Zimmermann when reading Vogue Magazine but never managed to obtain any of her books until I saw them available on amazon.com as I live in the UK. I haven't regretted buying this as I have re-read it over and over again and still haven't absorbed everything Mrs Zimmermann covers in the book.

It does not teach you the basics of knitting but anyone who can cast on, knit, purl and cast off, and who has knitted a couple of simple items, should profit from reading this volume. There are plenty of tips and the book teaches you how to make a seamless sweater on circular knitting needles using the yarn of your choice. This is a major bonus when knitting has become much more international thanks to the Internet, and knitters in different countries cannot always get the yarns for the patterns they have bought nor can they match the tensions in the pattern with a substitute yarn.

The book covers several different ways to make socks as well as different techniques for shaping the yoke of sweaters once you have made that first basic sweater with a circular yoke.

Elizabeth Zimmermann's writing is extremely witty but at the same time she is so clear in her writing that only a minimum of diagrammatical material is required to show you what she means. And when diagrams are required they are so clear that you can see at once what she wants you to do.

I recommend this to anyone who wants an entertaining knitting book to read (I have been known to sit up late in bed chuckling over this book) and who wants a thorough education on how to do circular knitting.

True, this is not a "first" knitting book - you should be comfortable with casting on and knitting (no purling though) to take advantage of all the amazing info E-Zim has to offer here.

That said, this book will revolutionize your knitting. You will be amazed how simple it is to make sweaters of several varieties, and what's more, you will design them yourself! E-Zim shows how very simple Any Sweater is in its basic design, then she lets you go and express yourself as you see fit.

I'm a relatively new knitter, but armed with this book I have made several gorgeous sweaters including a very impressive looking Fair Isle - which is so embarrassingly easy to do I'm almost reluctant to take praise on the sweater. Almost!

Each time I open this book, I want to throw all other responsibilities to the wind and sit down and read. No, it is not a learn-to-knit book; but for one getting familiar with the process, it is a mind-expanding experience. It is also a joyous, friendly way to meet her in print.

When first published, most American born knitters made every garment in pieces. The challenge of making presentable seams was formidable for me, so I welcomed EZ's sensible approach to knitting in the round.

I got a kick out of her calling us 'blind-followers,' which most of us were who were inexperienced and perhaps, as I was, self-taught. Having the traditional directions along with her smart short-cuts and the clever, sensible percentage system was enormously helpful for me.

The small size of her book is also a plus--easy to digest and learn from without being intimidated. Her skillful illustrations are so clear. The information she so delightfully encloses is still valuable, no matter the year!

Elizabeth was a very friendly, lovable, warm,kind woman, and an excellent teacher--in person or by books. I'm happy and proud to have known her. This book is a classic and should be in every knitter's library.

This is not a "learn to knit" book at all. I would encourage anyone considering the book to make sure you can at least make something that requires some shaping (increases, decreases and all that) before picking it up.

But *after* that?

Get it! Get it! Getit!

If nothing else, it's a funny read. When discussing how to make steeks (she doesn't use the term, but it is a technique in which you make a sweater in the round and then *cut* your precious knitting to sew in the sleeves), she advises, "Cut on the basting, then lie down in a darkened room for fifteen minutes to recover." The book is loaded with little comments like that.

Mrs. Zimmerman saw knitting as an art and a creative process and did not feel that being creative was a trait reserved for the elite. She constantly encourages one to "cheat" to fix problems, or find solutions to make the garment work.

I share Mrs. Zimmerman's dislike of seaming sweaters, so the techniques she has taught for knitting them in the round make me very happy, indeed!