| Letter from the Editor Knitter's Trunk Shows Interactive Community Forums Knitter's Poll |
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"Knit on, with confidence and hope..." Amy Detjen, who reigns supreme in the mailing list community as the KnitU Dean/List Mom, has brought together all the KnitU Elizabeth tributes plus moving testimonials from Lizbeth Upitis, Joyce Williams (who compiled all the KnitU tributes) - and many , many other knitters. David Xenakis is best known to the desktop publishing world as a photoshop author and teacher, but counts himself a knitter first. His moving Eulogy for Elizabeth is dedicated to the woman without whom there would have been no Knitter's Magazine. Knitter's Editor Nancy J. Thomas took part in Remembering Elizabeth, Alexis Xenakis' "The Knitting Knitters, the people who knew and loved her best, were the first to hear of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s death (on Knitter’s KnitU list). Within hours The New York Times was calling Meg. ‘E. Zimmermann Is Dead at 89; Revolutionized Art of Knitting,’ read the Times headline, and variations appeared in hundreds of papers across the country. In my studio, shooting Meg’s new book A Gathering of Lace, I was startled to hear Meg’s voice. Was she here? Ahead of schedule? No, she was talking about Elizabeth to Noah Adams on NPR’s All Things Considered. Later, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation picked up the story, and featured Meg, and Kaffe Fassett via telephone from England. As I listened to Kaffe and Meg lovingly talk about Elizabeth and what she meant to knitters, I wanted to write down every word so I could share it with you and the whole knitting universe… So it occurred to me to invite Kaffe (whose life was changed after discovering circular needles through Elizabeth); Knitter’s Editor Nancy Thomas (who worked for many years with Elizabeth while at Vogue Knitting); XRX Book Editor Elaine Rowley (who trekked across the country, two male friends in tow, to one of Elizabeth’s first Knitting Camps); and, of course, Meg Swansen, who is so ably carrying Elizabeth’s torch and tradition. Nancy J. Thomas: Meg, did you see the obituary that said, ‘Liz Zimmermann, Knitting Whiz?’ Meg Swansen: Yes, wouldn’t she love the ‘Liz’ part! Actually, one of our favorites is ‘E.Z. Rocks!’ Kaffe Fassett: Incredible… Just as incredible as how Elizabeth came into my life. I had just seen her name in a book, and then it was so strange to get a letter from her from this funny little place in the middle of America called Babcock. When we finally met (after all this correspondence back-and-forth) she said, “I’ll meet you, but I won’t come into London.” We met in a pub outside the city, which I had to be driven to because I don’t drive. We sat there and knitted together… it was so funny. Meg: I remember Elizabeth telling me she was so pleased to meet you, that after all those years you actually got needle-to-needle as it were. Was the pub the place where the cats were? You and Elizabeth started looking at things and the cats ended up under a pile of sweaters? Kaffe: [Laughs.] My first impression of Elizabeth was actually about six months before we actually met through letters. My sister came running to me and said, “I’ve just read the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a book…” She told me about the cutting of the sleeve after you’ve knit it in the round—and then you have to go into a dark room and lie down until you recover!—which I’ve quoted for years all over the world, and it’s always gotten a wonderful laugh. My sister is a fantastic knitter, far better than I am. And so it’s wonderful that she was so inflamed by Elizabeth before I ever heard of her. I’ve always thought that Elizabeth and I were like book ends: I was the American who went to England to knit, and she the Englishwoman who went to America. Nancy: I met Elizabeth through letters as well. I’m sitting here with a whole folder that I kept from the time I was working with Elizabeth while at Vogue Knitting. She was a wonderful correspondent. She wrote amazing letters, and they sound just the way she wrote in her books. Meg: I think that’s why so many people feel that they knew her personally. To read her is to know her, because there was no difference between the way she spoke, and the way she wrote letters, or the way she wrote books. Kaffe: I took a page out of her book when I sat down to write. I wrote this very chatty chapter and I sent it in to my publishers. They edited it and sent it back. It read like the stiffest sort of recipe of doing egg whites—it had nothing to do with me. I said, Can’t I have my own words? She gave us license, I think, to be chatty, and to be informal—and funny. It’s so funny what we do, there are so many jokes in it. I love it when she says ‘Blind Followers.’ You can just conjure up this wonderful character out of her writing. Meg: I think that’s the important contribution to knitting instructions, writing in a conversational style which immediately puts you at ease and lets you know that you’re all on the same plane, and that you’re doing this together… Kaffe: Like giving someone a whiskey to calm them down, to chill them out! She was wonderful at chilling people out, because she knew they’re going to get so tense over these bloody stitches… Nancy: I was reading to Alexis one of my favorite quotes from KnitU, from a woman who said that Elizabeth was the Jerry Garcia of knitting. I just loved it! Meg: Is that the woman who says she has an aging hippie knitting group? Nancy: They decided …Over coffee that E.Z. was the Jerry Garcia of knitting: jolly, kind, unconventional, endlessly creative, often quoted, and much-loved by countless people. |
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