Many current knitters have no idea who Elizabeth Zimmermann (EZ) is, I was among those uninformed until recently. I should have known about her; she lived her adult life only a couple of hours' drive from my home. Had I been a more savvy knitter back in the day I could have taken in her workshops at her camps. But being savvy at 10 or so years old wasn't in the cards.
My journey into finding out about EZ started with this photo posted in a chat room I regularly follow. The sweater was referred to as BSJ as if everyone knew what it meant.
For starters I had to figure out what a BSJ was and then try to find a pattern for it. The "V" shaping around the mid section and the bold double stripping was very intriguing to me. I found BSJ stands for Baby Surprise Jacket and became more intrigued by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's comments about the jacket on her blog. This was the beginning of my introduction to Elizabeth Zimmermann. (More about BSJ in another post.)
EZ was born in the UK in 1910, studied art in Switzerland and German and married a German named Arnold Zimmermann, who happened to be a brewmaster. The two came to the U.S. leaving, Hitler's Germany, first living in New York and then moving to central Wisconsin.
EZ is credited for bringing the Continental knitting style (used widely in Germany and dropped in most English speaking countries during WWII) back to North America. Continental knitting has the knitter holding yarn in the left-hand, is said to allow more control over tension and is easy on the hands. (I cannot speak to this because I use the English knitting style which uses the right hand to control the yarn and has that hand "throwing" yarn around the left needle.) She also is given credit to introducing circular needles to this continent as well.
One needs to read only a few of her writings to see EZ was indeed an opinionated knitter. She writes about her frustration with a pattern company that revised her pattern from one designed for circular needles to one designed to be knit on straight needles, apparently without her permission. This change caused her to start her own publishing company, Schoolhouse Press, so she was assured no changes would be made to her directions in the future.
EZ brought a specific type of wool made in England across the Pacific called Sheepsdown. She ran a mail order business for yarn from the schoolhouse (thus the name Schoolhouse Press) and regularly sent to customers a free newsletter with her original patterns to use this yarn. Most of her patterns were introduced through these newsletters with improvements published later in books.
Over her life time she wrote four books: Knitter Without Tears (1971), Knitters Almanac (1981), Knitting Workshop (1981) and Knitting Around (1989). Her daughter, Meg Swansen, compiled some of her original newsletters, Wool Gatherings, and other writings of EZ in a book written in 2005 called, An Opinionated Knitter. A PBS series called Knitting Workshop, which is available now on DVD, was aired on PBS stations in the 1980's. In 1974 EZ started what she called a knitting camp, the first of its kind in the U.S. This was the genesis for the types of woolly, knitting gatherings I've talked about in previous posts.
Elizabeth Zimmermann gave the North American knitting world some lasting legacies in addition to Continental knitting, circular needles and gatherings for knitters. She developed "EPS" (Elizabeth's Percentage System) a mathematical formula knitters can use to determine how many stitches to cast on for a sweater. She determined that the sleeves and body of a sweater are proportionate no matter what yarn or gauge is used. This system helps turn the average knitter into a designer and improved the fit of the final product. EZ also wrote her patterns in a very unique way. Although she offers general guidelines on how to make an item, she encourages a knitter to make the pattern their own. This is so different from the way most patterns are written.
So there's a brief introduction to Elizabeth Zimmermann. If you'd like to read more about her, check out the obituary written by the New York Times in December 1999. She sounds like the type of person and knitter I would have liked to have known. Too bad I only have her writings and patterns to do that now.
Stay turned for more about BSJ soon.
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| An opinionated knitter, Elizabeth Zimmermann |
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| My first sighting of a BSJ |
EZ was born in the UK in 1910, studied art in Switzerland and German and married a German named Arnold Zimmermann, who happened to be a brewmaster. The two came to the U.S. leaving, Hitler's Germany, first living in New York and then moving to central Wisconsin.
EZ is credited for bringing the Continental knitting style (used widely in Germany and dropped in most English speaking countries during WWII) back to North America. Continental knitting has the knitter holding yarn in the left-hand, is said to allow more control over tension and is easy on the hands. (I cannot speak to this because I use the English knitting style which uses the right hand to control the yarn and has that hand "throwing" yarn around the left needle.) She also is given credit to introducing circular needles to this continent as well.
One needs to read only a few of her writings to see EZ was indeed an opinionated knitter. She writes about her frustration with a pattern company that revised her pattern from one designed for circular needles to one designed to be knit on straight needles, apparently without her permission. This change caused her to start her own publishing company, Schoolhouse Press, so she was assured no changes would be made to her directions in the future.
EZ brought a specific type of wool made in England across the Pacific called Sheepsdown. She ran a mail order business for yarn from the schoolhouse (thus the name Schoolhouse Press) and regularly sent to customers a free newsletter with her original patterns to use this yarn. Most of her patterns were introduced through these newsletters with improvements published later in books.
Over her life time she wrote four books: Knitter Without Tears (1971), Knitters Almanac (1981), Knitting Workshop (1981) and Knitting Around (1989). Her daughter, Meg Swansen, compiled some of her original newsletters, Wool Gatherings, and other writings of EZ in a book written in 2005 called, An Opinionated Knitter. A PBS series called Knitting Workshop, which is available now on DVD, was aired on PBS stations in the 1980's. In 1974 EZ started what she called a knitting camp, the first of its kind in the U.S. This was the genesis for the types of woolly, knitting gatherings I've talked about in previous posts.
Elizabeth Zimmermann gave the North American knitting world some lasting legacies in addition to Continental knitting, circular needles and gatherings for knitters. She developed "EPS" (Elizabeth's Percentage System) a mathematical formula knitters can use to determine how many stitches to cast on for a sweater. She determined that the sleeves and body of a sweater are proportionate no matter what yarn or gauge is used. This system helps turn the average knitter into a designer and improved the fit of the final product. EZ also wrote her patterns in a very unique way. Although she offers general guidelines on how to make an item, she encourages a knitter to make the pattern their own. This is so different from the way most patterns are written.
So there's a brief introduction to Elizabeth Zimmermann. If you'd like to read more about her, check out the obituary written by the New York Times in December 1999. She sounds like the type of person and knitter I would have liked to have known. Too bad I only have her writings and patterns to do that now.
Stay turned for more about BSJ soon.
The correct title is Knitting Without Tears. Her writing style is very chatty and engaging.
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