Sundry Saturday: A New Book

I received my copy of Knit One, Knit All: The Garter-Stitch Designs of Elizabeth Zimmermann this week. I have been looking forward to seeing what Meg Swansen and her family have found in the journals, notes and garment collections of Elizabeth Zimmermann.

I was not disappointed. EZ’s work and voice continue to resonate with me just as strongly as they did the first day I discovered her work nearly 25 years ago. Her ability to visualize the way a shaping maneuver will affect the architecture of a knitted fabric, her way of writing, and her absolute delight and curiosity about the way knitting works have been major influences on my view of knitting.

This book is clearly a labor of love by EZ’s family, and I’m grateful that they continue to, in addition to publishing their own designs and teaching, unearth and share with the world the knitting mind of their mother and grandmother. EZ’s own personal notes and musings, often reproduced from journals in her own handwriting, offer more glimpses into the process of her designs. It seems that many of them originated for no other reason than to just gleefully follow the yarn and see what would happen.

Some may dismiss a collection of all garter stitch designs as uninteresting and irrelevant, but in just my brief perusal of the patterns, I’ve found 5 things I want to make and that have  a timeless, classic quality to them, or that can easily be interpreted or adapted in ways that reflect my own style.  Other things that I might not make or wear beg for swatching to get the full feel of “How did she do that?”

This is my favorite kind of knitting book-one that makes me itch to get out my needles and play.  Thanks to Meg Swansen for realizing her mother’s dream for this book, even after so many years.