Yarn Scoop

Elizabeth Zimmerman’s fandom could be more properly considered a cult, but are her books worthy of the adulation?

Zimmerman means a lot to people, and I totally understand why. Her writing is warm and informal, without being sloppy. She dispenses solid technical advice without being intimidating. All of it is suffused with her sense of humor. She champions knitting as a way of life, and for knitters brought up on a diet of dry, boring pattern books, her works must have been revolutionary.

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac breaks down a year by month, one month per chapter. Each chapter begins with several pages of writing, and ends with a pattern (or three).

The chapter for March is a good structural example. It starts out by addressing the question “how much [yarn] do I need?” Zimmerman gives an overview of all the factors involved in answering this question, offers three ways to find the answer, then provides seven things you can do if you’re going to run short of yarn before your project is finished.

This is followed by 12 pages of writing about the project of the month, a half-page anecdote about her visit to a show where two of her works were being displayed, and two pages of her “pithy instructions” for knitting the pattern of the month.

This absence of coherent structure is, unfortunately, also a classic Zimmerman characteristic. I find her books very readable; very readable indeed. But maybe not so much with the whole thing about being a useful resource.

I honestly can’t imagine trying to assemble a fairly complicated sweater based on 1) twelve pages of good information about the pattern, presented in a breezy, flowing writing style, and 2) two pages of dense technical information (plus a hand-drawn chart).

Actually, I can imagine, because I tried to knit the Chainmail Hat from this book, and it nearly drove me to weeping. The “pithy” directions were too pithy; the verbose directions too verbose. In the end, I couldn’t figure out how to knit the damned thing, so I gave up and knit something else.

I take comfort in knowing that I’m not alone with this issue. Entire online communities have sprung up to provide technical support and supplementary information for Zimmerman’s patterns. Her writing is wonderful, but I have trouble endorsing any author whose patterns require that level of community-supported ancillary assistance.

Regarding the index, I would have to characterize it as “demented.” Several items may seem at first glance to be missing. Further perusal of the index may show that it’s simply listed somewhere you wouldn’t expect.

For example, the entry “Hat” includes sub-items Maltese Fisherman’s, Ganomy, and Three-Cornered. But where is the Chainmail Hat? Ah, it’s listed under the entry “Cap,” along with Aran Cap. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?

This is a good example of why and how an index can make or break a book. Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac contains a stunning wealth of information, but it’s almost impossible to find it.

A similar problem exists for Zimmerman’s books as a whole. Unless you have memorized them, and developed your own mental index as to which technique can be found where, you’re sunk.

For example, how are you supposed to know that her directions for an Afterthought Pocket can be found in this book? Even if you knew it was in here somewhere, how would you find them? It’s not listed in the table of contents. You might check the index under the letter A (for “Afterthought Pocket”). No such luck.

The index entry for the Afterthought Pocket is listed under the letter P (for “Pocket: Afterthought”). (Dude, that’s just sick. Sick and mean.) If you really wanted the instructions, your only recourse would be to read through the entire book until you found it. (Hint: it’s in the glossary of techniques, at the end of the book.)

The word “train wreck” comes to mind.

It seems that Schoolhouse Press has no plans for her books, other than to keep republishing them in their original form. I think that’s a damned shame, because it doesn’t do her justice.

If I had all the money in the world, I’d pay to have all of her works compiled, reorganized, and the patterns rewritten by technical writers. This would then be released as a four-volume collection:

1. Slice-of-life writings.
2. Patterns, each in the format:

A. Original verbose description
B. Original pithy pattern
C. The pattern re-written by a contemporary pattern author
D. New schematics, pictures, and charts

3. Collected techniques (the Afterthought Pocket, Stretchy Sewn Cast-On, etc.)
4. A giant index

Believe me, it could be done. And it would be awesome. Until then, we have to muddle through with what we have at hand.

Do you want to buy it?

Only if you have a burning desire to knit a pair of Norwegian mittens using a paragraph of musings on spring, two pages of contemplation on how everyone has their own individual color preferences, one page giving an overview of mitten construction in general, two paragraphs about on how to knit an I-Cord border, one page on how to chart your own mitten motif, a two-page anecdote about the local fishing hole, one page of anecdotal writing on how she developed the technique of knitting an afterthought thumb on a mitered mitten, a hand-written chart, and a single dense paragraph of instructions, in that order. (Oh, how I wish I was kidding.) Buy it at Amazon.

When I first received my copy of The Knitter’s Bible – Knitted Accessories by Claire Crompton, I glanced at the patterns, thought “Eh,” and stuck it on the bookshelf. I recently took a closer look, and was surprised at what I found.

For a lightweight book about small knitting projects, Knitted Accessories contains a huge volume of information. One large page is devoted to each of the basics (casting on, casting off, increasing, decreasing), including technical illustrations of a generous size.

This is then followed by similar pages on a surprising array of more advanced techniques, including cables, circular knitting, working with beads, embroidery, fulling, an overview of generic mitten construction, and much more. This book contains roughly the same volume of knitting information as a copy of Deb Stoller’s “Stitch ‘N Bitch,” which surely goes above and beyond the call of duty.

If I’d realized this book included embroidery instruction, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. I’m itching to try out the chain stitch technique! It also offers a method of weaving in ends as you knit. I’ve seen this method described in various places, but the technical illustration is what really made it click for me.

The projects themselves are… well, a little bit “Eh” for me.

However, I love the way that author Claire Crompton never misses a chance to encourage knitters to experiment with knitting the pattern in a completely different yarn. Several patterns feature a section called “New Yarn, New Look,” where she demonstrates how the pattern changes depending on the yarn. A pattern that calls for a solid purple yarn is also shown in a multi-colored hand-dyed hand-spun yarn. A pattern which calls for a cream-colored solid yarn is shown in a tweed, a mohair, a chenille, and one strand of mohair held together with one strand of tweed.

I read somewhere that 85% of knitters knit their projects using the exact yarn the pattern calls for, in the exact color as shown. I find this a little sad, and obviously Crompton does, as well.

The only thing that annoys me about this book is that it seems, at first glance, to be exceptionally coy with regards to the yarn used. Under a pattern’s materials list, it will specify something like:

1 x 1 3/4 oz (50g) balls of light-weight (DK) nylon-covered linen cord (152yard/140m per ball) in each of pink and mauve.

Obviously the pattern has a specific yarn in mind. (A pattern which isn’t written for a specific yarn will just say “110 yards of sport-weight yarn” and leave it at that.)

The mystery deepened after my discovery of a page in the back which lists all of the yarns used for each pattern. So to save you having to search the internet for “nylon-covered linen cord 50g yarn for sale,” it explains that the pattern on page 74 calls for GGH Safari, one ball each in pink and mauve.

Is it just me, or is this weird and overly-complicated? I’m sure there’s a reason for it. And I suspect that the reason may involve lawyers. Or maybe this is just a standard feature of UK knitting books. “Guess which yarn we want you to buy! Did you guess? No? Flip to the back of the book to see if you’ve guessed correctly!”

Baffling.

At any rate, it’s a fairly minor quirk, and easy enough to work around.

Do you want to buy it?

I would recommend Knitted Accessories for any beginning knitter who has completed a few projects, and is ready to ease into something a little fancier. It thoughtfully includes a pair of gloves worked on two needles (in case you’re not quite ready to tackle the DPNs). But the inclusion of more advanced projects (e.g. cables and beads) means that the book will grow with you, so you’ll really get your money’s worth. Buy it at Amazon!

I can name at least a dozen stitch pattern books off the top of my head. But what distinguishes one stitch pattern book from another?

Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns is one of those oversized trade paperbacks which the big box bookstores like to put as endcap displays. If you’ve visited the knitting section of one of those stores in the last two years, you’ve probably seen this book prominently displayed.

It’s easy, as members of the knitting community, to stick with conventional wisdom and turn up our nose at other offerings. Everyone knows that Barbara Walker is the queen of knitting stitch compendiums. How could a mass-produced trade paperback possibly compete?

Well, to tell you the truth, the black and white photos in the Barbara Walker compendiums are kind of a turn-off for me. Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns features full-color photos, which is a definite plus.

It also offers directions both as a chart, and written out. This is probably its greatest advantage over other stitch dictionaries, most of which offer one or the other, but not both.

This book’s strength is in its Basic and Classic section. Every knitter goes through an early stage where you’ve heard of seed stitch, moss stitch, and basketweave stitch, and you’d like to try them, but you have no idea what they are. This book is perfect for knitters who are in that stage. You get nice pictures, clear explanations, and a chart for even the simplest stitch.

The presence of charts for every stitch pattern also make this a great book for beginning knitters. Let’s face it – expecting someone to learn how to knit from a chart for a massive lace scarf is a little cold-hearted. Why not start with a chart for moss stitch, and work up from there?

As far as the patterns themselves are concerned, this isn’t the greatest collection of lace or cable (here called “crossover stitches”) patterns. It lacks a lot of what I would consider basic lace and cable patterns (there are no lace leaf patterns, and no braided cables). But it does collect a lot of patterns that I haven’t seen elsewhere. If you already have books that focus on lace and cable patterns, this will make a nice supplement.

Whenever I pick up a stitch compendium, I always close my eyes and wish for a “non-curling” section. Or maybe a little icon, like a blue star, marking those stitch patterns which won’t curl. This seems like a natural, since at least 85% of my usage of these books is for concocting scarves. This book doesn’t have that feature, but neither do any of the others, so far as I know. (But a girl can dream, can’t she?)

Since the swatches are pictured in ultra close-up, and since they have obviously been heavily blocked, the knitter is left to his or her own devices to determine the rate of curling. You’ll want to swatch, of course, and to look for stitches which balance knits and purls. I have spent many many hours poring through this book, eyeballing the swatches and wondering if the knits and purls are balanced.

You see what I mean? Why can’t they just tell us if it will curl?

This isn’t so much a fault of this book in particular, as it is a fault of the genre at large. Some day, when I rule the world. Some day.

Index

The organization is a little unusual. It’s organized into chapters (lace stitches, crossover stitches, “creative” stitches, and so forth). Each chapter organizes the patterns in order of difficulty, from easy to hard. At the front of the book we find its only index, which is a sort of hybrid table of contents.

The patterns are grouped by chapter, but alphabetized within the grouping. The model here is that you’re looking for a jacquard stitch called “Little Flowers.” If that’s the case, you’re set.

However, I wish there was a proper index in the back. There have been several occasions where I’ve been looking for, say, “Split Granite,” but I can’t remember if it’s categorized as a classic stitch, a textured stitch, or a slip stitch. It would be awfully nice to have all the patterns organized in plain old alphabetical order.

Errata

I haven’t been able to find any. I have encountered a few problems with some of the patterns, most notably with their instructions for brioche stitch. (Either this pattern contains an error, or I’m a complete idiot. Honestly, I’m not sure which is true.) No matter which pattern you choose, I strongly advise that you swatch first.

Do you want to buy it?

Despite some quibbles, this book is a great value. $15 for 283 pages – about 500 stitch patterns – it’s hard to go wrong with that. Advanced knitters will find something interesting in the more complicated sections, and beginning knitters will appreciate the Basic and Classic stitches. Get it at Amazon.com!