EZ

Elizabeth Zimmerman is one of my knitting heroes.

I've never done a thing with any of her patterns.

The contradiction has lately been eating me up.

I have all of EZ's books. I often browse through them. I especially love the books with her life stories in them (Knitting Around and the new Opinionated Knitter). They live on my bedside table most of the time, for light reading before I fall asleep.

Every single time I drop a stitch, I think of the line in Knitting Without Tears where she says, "Actually the word 'run' is inaccurate, as, contrary to superstition, a dropped stitch does not immediately zoom down to the bottom of your work like a run in a stocking. At the most it will slither down one or two rows, and cling there, moaning piteously, and waiting to be picked up". Every single time I drop a stitch, I smile to myself and think, look, there it is, moaning piteously.

A while ago, my friend Johanna commented to tell me a story about her mom's little connection to Elizabeth. I've excerpted it here:

I was prowling around in family bookshelves yesterday & found my mother's old copy of Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns, HC 5th edition from 1948, printed in England. And as I'm delightedly thumbing through it, I find a sheet of paper tucked between 2 pages (here's where we enter the inner sanctum, a moment of silence, please), a handtyped invoice from Elizabeth Zimmerman to my mother, dated 8Sept65, for 2 skeins of sheepsdown & the Mary Thomas book, & the personal note & signature "Payment received with thanks. Please excuse delay; we just returned from annual vacation. Eliz."

You have no idea how I was consumed with longing.

My grandmother, for all of her knitting, seems to have never encountered Schoolhouse Press or EZ. All of her patterns are from yarn companies and booklets that she collected over the years. She was an incredible knitter but never delved into designing things on her own.

Mary Beth's post recently where she mentioned starting a Scandinavian style sweater a la EZ got me going. I looked up the pattern notes in The Opinionated Knitter and dreamt of one of my own. Thought about the wool I have in the house. Thought about the dream sweater - simple, red and natural oatmeal, elegant, understated. Original.

And then I put the book down and felt overwhelmed.

It's not that I haven't designed things. I designed all my own quilts for years. There's plenty of math in that. I don't have fear of math, per se. But when it comes to sweaters I have irrational fear.

I keep thinking that I'll get to it. After a couple of sweaters using other people's patterns, I'll get to my own ideas. I'll create gorgeous things that will fly off the needles, unlike anything else I've ever seen. Or based on something traditional, with a twist of my own added. Just a little bit different, new, or unique.

In the mean time, maybe I'll just finished one of the damned sweaters that's already on the needles. Or then again, maybe that's my whole problem. The damn sweaters.

Comments

[Jody]

I'm looking forward to your first sweater, self designed or not. You have great taste and the sweaters you have on the needles are great.

Now get knitting!

[Jessica]

I also love EZ to distraction and yet also have done very little with her patterns. I have knit her PI Shawl sometime this past year and am currently working on a sweater for my son using her percentage system. I don't think it's the patterns that make EZ stand out so but her wonderful attitude towards knitting and creativity that draws me to her. That's enough although many of the patterns are wonderful in their cleverness. I'd definitely recommend the two I've tried if you'd like to experiment. I really think you'd like the Pi Shawl especially.

[JoVE]

It seems to me that you could doodle out the colourwork pattern for a red and white scandinavian style sweater without committing yourself to ever knitting it. I do that sort of thing with patchwork patterns all the time. Then you might try a section of that pattern on a hat or something.

Unlike quilts (where if you don't like how it turns out you have to start again or do something requiring smaller patches), you can always rip out the knitting and try again (or not).

[margene]

Knitting puts you in the creative side of your brain. Knit what you have on the needles now and keep a notebook close to make note on the ideas that come to you. You'll find it a very rewarding process and you may find the design is just under the surface waiting to be born. Katy's mom knit one of the sweaters (the pink one) in the book and new EZ well. It is always interesting to hear what she has to say about knitting because of that connection.

[Beth]

You know what I did last night? Cast on for a sweater. Do I have a pattern? Nope. Seems to me that EZ is all about knowing your gauge and your yarn and what you want. So I made a swatch, decided what I want, and I'm off and doing a seed stich border instead of ribbing. 'Cause I don't want ribbing. See how easy it is? Yeah, ask me that when I'm trying to figure out how to do a neckline or steek for sleeves.

[Julie]

So don't worry about it. Keep using patterns until you feel like not using patterns. I've done both. Some of the results were too hilarious for words, both with patterns and without. Now I prefer working with a pattern, and experimenting with the fiber instead.

[erin]

It'll just come to you one day. A sweater design is not something to be forced. No good can come from that.

[Juno]

You know, it is OK if EZ's role is merely to inspire and encourage you. Merely - ha! That's way more important than who wrote a pattern.

On the other hand if this will get you over your sweater Problem.....

Please note the time.....

[Beth S.]

I know just how you feel. Never knitted one of her patterns either, although I enjoy reading them tremendously. The Pi Shawl is on my list of must-knits.

How about designing a hat first? It's a lot smaller than a sw**t*r. Though you do have to account for those pesky decreases...

[heather]

i say go for it. but just maybe that response is in part because you've reminded me of my deep fear of sleeve shaping and the two (at least two) partially finished self-designs i've abandoned over the last year and a half as soon as i hit shoulder territory. maybe it's time to exorcise some knitting hangups.

[mamacate]

Yup. I hear ya. That damn fair isle sweater is one of the few I've designed, and most of the other ones are just top-down, big needle, BGw recipe sweaters. I'm a little chicken. That and my lousy note-taking and the penchant I have for not knitting to gauge and the animosity I have toward swatching--none of these things helps. I remember being in this place with cooking. I knew I was ready to make up my own recipes, but I felt strangely fearful of actually doing it. Then I finally let go of the ego of it, and said, hey, I'm a great cook with other people's recipes and that's enough. And all of a sudden, I was creating my own recipes left and right.

Cooking is easier because the investment is less. You make something dreadful and you order pizza. Maybe $20 wasted. Not months of time and, well, more than $20 in yarn or fiber.

I do feel like I can follow an EZ/BGw/PGR recipe, but some of the stuff in my head is more complicated than that. I have a cabley thing in my head, but the idea of swatching for it makes me want to hide. Oh well. Like you said, there are a few things on the needles already. I'm waiting for it to come all on it's own, like with cooking. Might have to buckle down and swatch, though.

[sherry]

You will never do it if you don't start! Just start the back..... and let your mind wander, but jot down your ideas. There is nothing so exciting as wearing a unique sweater you have designed yourself! It is worth the effort. Swatch. Get gauge.
1. Pullover or cardigan?
2. what kind of edging?
3. what kind of neckline?
4. Collar?
5. You have your colors, yarn.. what size needles do you need? Got them?
6. Now do a sleeve.
7. Thinking about buttons? Go look.
8. Front.
It is easy if you break it down into components.

[Lauren]

So are sweaters not just 20th century anymore?

[Carole]

I'm a finisher. You'll feel better (or I'll feel better) if you finish one of the sweaters you've already started. Please?

[claudia]

I'll admit, I'm not much of a designer. The vision thing -- seeing something where there is nothing -- isn't my bag. However, I'm good at modifying the good idea of someone else.

Are you a designer or a modifier?

[Emma.]

Go to it sweetheart ! It's only sticks and string. Have fun in the knowledge that the worst that can happen is that you'll have to re-knit a few times.

[valentina]

Start with a sock. It's smaller.

[cari]

No one ever died from knitting badly. Take the plunge, baby. Set those damned sweaters aside and cast on for an EZ. The eps sweater formula is especially painless.I used it for the Monster sweater.

[Janine]

The dream of a wonderful sweater often makes us seize up--perhaps it's time to cast on for an OK sweater! Just make a decision about the design--choose any one of the ideas you have and start. You'll change your mind as you go, make alterations based on desire or correction, the sweater will soon become your own in a precious way. And then the next one will be different. What I learn from EZ's writing is to keep knitting. The homely art of self-expression and practicality combined.I;m looking forward to seeing your red and oatmeal sweater!

[Sara]

Um - think of it as a vest. Then change your mind and add sleeves later if you want ;) Because you make vests that others long for....And you know, with the bigger gauge of sweater yarn, it's not really that much more than socks (ducking for cover...)

[Cheryl]

I love the idea of designing a sweater. I even started one once. I got half the back done then decreased, seamed it up, and called it a hat. I don't know what's stopping me from going all the way. Laziness? Lack of confidence?

[Mary Beth]

The story of that little note practically made me cry - how sweet! I ALWAYS dream big when I am reading any of EZ's books. I just love that feeling of inspiration I get from her. (It rarely results in anything actually knitted - except for today (see post - hooray!)) Speaking of projects, got to get back to that Scandinavian sweater, hopelessly stalled....

[Kim]

You are brave, designing a sweater and my hat is off to you. I can knit almost any pattern that is out there, but ask me to create one and my brain freezes just as if it were a math word problem. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. ;-)

[Johanna]

Well, it's very interesting to hear you say you've been contemplating designing a sweater. So have I...secretly...for about 6 months now. I have a tiny picture of an nice idea, but basically I have to translate that rough form into a pattern...& oddly enough, EZ is the one knitter I'd go to to help me figure out some of the quirks in self-design. I am deep into chicken-ness...my idea is very medaeival (old-fashioned spelling, perhaps?) & I know I will never run into this on anyone anywhere...but for as many times as I've measured my bodice & cast on stitches...well, I've ripped out to nothing that often too.

How 'bout it? Shall we have a go at doing our own thing & reassure each other along the way? George & I are moving to Vermont this Sunday (yikes!) & once I get unpacked I am likely to settle down into a cozy winter huddle with a good knitting project.

[Lee Ann]

If your gorgeous red and oatmeal like no other sock ends up too small, I know someone with size 6 feet...

:-)

Go for it. Design for you. Knit red. Crush fear. You can do it. And, as with my daughter who regularly backs away from things she knows she can do but approaches with strange terror, you know you can succeed, too, if you could just make the jump. The "ladder" is shorter than you think...the design equivalent of the dropped stitch.

Which means you can moan a little before you jump ;-)))