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Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Not your common How-To book
This is not a linear learn-to-knit book, & Zimmerman's approach takes a bit of getting used to, but it provides useful information to both the novice & the experienced knitter. It was helpful to me, & I've been knitting for 40 years. I plan to use it to teach a friend to knit.
Rating:  - A classic
Everyone should have this book in their library. What more can I say? :)
Rating: - Best for beginners
I love EZ's writing style. Even though this book was a bit too beginner-like for me, I enjoyed reading her tips, and it made it easier for me to advise some of my sisters who wanted to learn to knit.
I think the best advise I read was that "washing hides a multitude of sins." Before reading this, I was quite obsessive about my knitting gauge. I'd measure my knitting after every row (and sometimes every few stitches), just to make sure my gauge was right where it should be. EZ, of course with wit and humor, chided people like myself who spent more time worrying about having the perfect gauge than they actually spent knitting. She pointed out that if the gauge is off a bit, washing it will usually even things out quite a bit. Thus the advise, "washing hides a multitude of sins."
Now I spend more time enjoying my knitting, which has actually allowed me to be more creative with my knitting. After reading EZ's words, I'm no longer afraid to change a pattern if it's not exactly what I want, and (at times) I've even "unvented" my own patterns. If you want to see the type of creativity EZ can inspire, you can get my free patterns at http://www.geocities.com/mama_bear_007/.
I think the most important thing about this book.... EZ showed me how to actually have fun with my knitting. In my opinion, she was the Diva of all the Knitting World.
Rating:  - Knitting
Not at all what I expected. Very disappointed with the content. Wouldn't recommend for purchase.
Rating:  - Very Disappointing!
I ordered this with very high hopes because of all the praise E. Zimmerman gets for her books. I was expecially interested in her because I've read so much about how crystal clear her explanations are and that this book in particular contains so many pearls of wisdom re: circular knitting. I have been trying without success to learn to knit with DPNs and hoped I'd find the key here. All I found was frustration. After an initial surge of hope when I found the section entitled "Circular Needles", and reading through an unnecessary mini-treatise on why some people dislike using them, came the words "Younger people love circular knitting....but suffer under a great paucity of directions for the technique. This gap I am valiantly trying to fill". I read on, certain the she meant to fill that gap. She did not. There was another page or so of miscellaneous tips and info about the needles themselves but not a word there or elsewhere about circular knitting. And not a word about technique for knitting on DPNs. Illustrations are sparse, photos all in B&W, so if you are a visual learner, this is not for you. I was also eager to find the pattern for the much touted baby jacket, but found nothing like what I've read about. But maybe that's the Modular Tomten Jacket? I'm going to give it a try. My biggest gripe in general about this book is that she goes into excruciating detail about the most useless stuff and skips over details that are important to beginners. And this is supposed to be a book for beginners, right? That said, the section on gauge is very good, and I like that she explains the rudiments of knitting design so that you understand how to either customize patterns you have, or design your own if you're ambitious enough. And one thing that she does describe under the heading of ski sweater, is a method whereby you cut the body of a sweater to make an armhole to fit a sleeve into. I'm not sure what the advantage is, and she doesn't say, but I haven't seen that technique described elsewhere, so that was interesting. It may be some time before I'm brave enough to try that, however. All in all, I would not say I didn't get my money's worth. After all, I got it on sale. A little less chit chat and more info would make this more satisfying. For instance, she does not tell the reader how to follow a chart. She just gives one and tells you to "refer to the chart". Ditto for Fair Isle knitting. Maybe when I have a little more experience under my belt, this will seem more useful. In the meantime, I'll continue my search for a true beginner book.
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