Me: So I was wondering if you could recommend a good beginning knitting book.
Natalia: Oh yeah! I've got just the book for you...
Me: And I don't want a book by anyone who makes fun of crochet, so Elizabeth Zimmermann is right out.
Natalia: ...Oh. Well, I guess I don't have a book for you.
She was going to recommend Knitting Without Tears.
I'm sure it's quite wonderful, I'm sure there are very good reasons that EZ is the goddess of knitting, I'm sure I will check out her work eventually, but right now I'm just not in the mood to learn from someone associated with the phrase "crochet is for servants." Of course I cannot find backup for that incident right now and at any rate I'm sure I'll be accused of blasphemy and burnt at the needles. I'm working on it, people! You don't reorder your worldview overnight!...The Mad Husband just told me the reason I've had more blog hits lately is because I started talking about knitting. See, I'm even getting it from the non-yarnies.
4 comments:
He could be right you know.
As for books! I like Sally Melville, Mason Dixon Book. A lot of folks started with Stitch N Bitch and The Yarn Girls. I've got all of the above if you want me to bring to Monday night for you to check out. Personally, I wish I would have taken my cousin Kathleen's advice and started with Sally's Knit book
Knittinghelp.com is great (because sometimes seeing someone else do it is incredibly helpful) and I like the Knitting Answer Book. Clear pictures, is little (so can be stuck in a bag easily), and has a ton of info.
And crochet is for servants. Yeah right, they made beautiful lace doilies rather than doing the cooking, cleaning, laundry, child care, and whatever else came up. After all, with all that extra income, they could certainly afford to buy the extra yarn crochet generally requires.
Maggie Righetti (on the grounds that she likes crochet as well as knitting ...) :)
Well, if Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting is as good as her Encyclopedia of Crochet, that would be worth a look. When you get a little a little more experience, I'd check out Vogue Knitting (not the stitchionaries... the one they bill as "the ultimate knitting book") and Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting, both of which different diversities & technical skills of knitting.
I think Elizabeth Zimmerman's crochet comment might surface in Knitting Around, in one of her bio pieces (the book is split between bio, & patterns). I don't remember it or its bedrock attitude appearing in Knitting Without Tears... which as a bi-crafter I do love & would recommend. Because as much as Elizabeth had her own opinions, she really wanted you to have your own, and even if crochet wasn't for her -- well, that didn't mean it couldn't be for you.(That, at least, is the vibe I personally get from her, whether we're talking WOT, Almanac, Opinionated Knitter, or Knitting Around.)
And, may I reassure you? You can love them both, for their own merits.
It's awesome you haven't let the bigot-knitters keep you away from knitting... just like you didn't let them keep you away from crochet. =)
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