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| Many of us first met Elizabeth Zimmermann in print. We have continued to turn to her books for delight, inspiration, and solid knitting sense. |
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| For the first time in sixteen years Knitter's Magazine honors a knitter on its cover. (Click on small images to enlarge them.) |
Remembering Elizabeth...
Knitting without tears was her motto and it reverberated throughout the knitting universe: echoing from the pages of her books; traveling over the air waves through her public television series; and, for those very lucky few, it was heard in front of her class at her famous Knitting Camp. When on November 30th, 1999, that voice could no longer be heard, we did what everyone who loses a loved one does: gather with friends - to remember.
Come. Please join Kaffe Fassett, Nancy J. Thomas, Elaine Rowley, and Elizabeth’s daughter Meg Swansen, in remembering Elizabeth Zimmermann…
 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 Swansen: 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...
- Alexis Xenakis
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(Left) Elizabeth’s Knitting Camp became an annual rite for knitters from all over the country; (Right); Elizabeth and Meg enjoying a break at Shell Lake
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| Read "Remembering Elizabeth" in its entirety in Knitter's 58. >> Copyright 2000 XRX Inc. All Rights Reserve. |
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Most of us remember Elizabeth’s husband Arnold as the one who would ‘rescue’ Elizabeth at Knitting Camp promptly at 4:30. What was Knitting Camp like?
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ember Elizabeth - In Your Knitting Camp was booked every year up to the last seat and her pupils were responding wonderfully.
What can you tell us about Elizabeth’s inventive mind? Where did such delights and innovations as I-Cord and the Surprise Jacket come from? Did this fresh way of looking at things manifest itself in other aspects of Elizabeth’s life?
Elizabeth’s inventive mind never could sit still. She always thought of new things, new approaches and new wrinkles. There were such innovations as the I-cord which as a non-knitter I am at a loss to explain to you! [Laughs.]
Then there was the ‘Surprise Jacket.’ She showed it to me and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it! It was something off which some appendages hung, and it was seemingly impossible to make anything out of it. She took it from my hands and in a trifle she had a lovely little baby jacket in front of me that no one would have expected from the incongruous thing that had first appeared.
Often, as we walked along, she would suddenly say, “Look at this thing. Couldn’t it be used for such-and-such a purpose?” She had the eye not only of a designer but sometimes almost of an engineer.
Did she ever get writer's block?
She never was at a loss for words.
What was Elizabeth's reaction when she saw her first book?
It was an expression of pleasure and satisfaction. When she saw her first TV show she was astonished to find that she was quite an accomplished actress. And of course, her English accent didn’t hurt either.
Did Elizabeth really knit on your cycle?
My last bike was a BMW 900cc machine. One day we were on a comparatively short trip to Madison. A truck came up behind us and hovered beside us for many miles. First I thought that the driver was interested in my bike. But when we arrived in Madison I found out that Elizabeth had been knitting on the bike. That was what interested both the driver and his helper!
Are there any anecdotes about Elziabeth's knitting life that you could share with us?
My son, Tom, has an anecdote: “One day my Mom and I were driving down a narrow one-way street in Milwaukee. Cars were parked on both sides and there was only one lane down the middle. Suddenly a guy pulls out of a parking lot and cuts my Mom off. Somebody had to give: he can’t pull out because she’s in front of him, and she can’t proceed because he’s in front of her.
“So this guy looks over at my mom, raises his shoulders, crosses his arms and goes, ‘Hurumph!’ looking right at her as if saying, ‘I’m not moving, baby!’ So my Mom reaches down beside her, lifts up her knitting - and in plain sight, on the steering wheel, starts to knit!
“This guy slams into reverse, screeches back into the parking lot, and my Mom goes putt-putt-putt-putt down the street!”
How did Elizabeth feel watching Meg turn into one of the brightest stars in the knitting universe?
It was like one sailing ship slowly passing another. With Elizabeth handing the steering wheel over to Meg, who turns about - and heads still higher into the wind…”
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