EZ Does It

For most of my knitting life, which began in about 1963, I have not been smitten by Elizabeth Zimmermann’s style of knitting.  Before you’re tempted to comment on what a philistine I am, these are my reasons.

• I am good at seaming, and I like the challenge, and so the allure of knitting without seams just to avoid the process of seaming just isn’t there for me. 
• I do not dislike purling, and so the advantage of knitting in the round to avoid purls also doesn’t mean much.
• I was upset by EZ’s statement that the way you purl in combined knitting (by scooping the purls) is the “lazy way” to purl.  I had put up with a sizeable amount of grief from my mother’s knitting friends about how I knit “wrong” to be very defensive about such criticism.  And the evenness of my stitches was far better than those knitted by those harridans, who had nothing better to do than pour over my sweaters looking for mistakes (and who admitted grudgingly that my knitted fabric was beautiful).  I just figured EZ was another of these harpies.

There are advantages to producing seamless sweaters, but to me the benefit is to have a smoother fabric and flowing garment.  When I sewed with a custom tailor, we would always attempt to eliminate the bulkiness of sewn seams and to make them invisible by careful matching of the fabric.  And here you are in knitting when you can avoid them completely.  There are times when seams will form a “skeleton” for a garment; but there are other times when having no seams is a blessing.  And so I’ve decided, in addition to knitting stranded sweaters this year, to try out EZ’s methods of sweater construction as a way to become more skillful with seamless sweaters and get over my hang up about her views on combined purling. 

About a month ago, I bought Knitting Around and the Knitting Workshop.  I was set up for this conversion by seeing all the bloggers and Ravellers who favor seamless sweaters.  And I’m sure hearing Kelley Petkun on over 100 episodes of the Knit Picks podcast reiterate how much she prefers knitting in the round had at least a little to do with my change of heart.  But the big mover was Brooklyn Tweed’s columns in recent issues (Fall and Winter 09) of Vogue Knitting, which mentioned that you could knit fitted sleeves in the round as EZ has done.   There is nothing I’d like better than to avoid armhole seams.

After borrowing the Knitting Workshop DVD from the library, and watching it in conjunction with reading the book, I thought I’d try a yoked sweater and then move on to raglans and saddle shoulders.  But I had also read that EZ’s percentages might not fit all body types.  I have relatively big upper arms from 35 years of lap swimming, and I think the 30% will be too tight.  And so I supplemented my reading of EZ’s book with Knitting in the Old Way.  The chart in that book, which is truly an excellent introduction to all sorts of traditional sweaters, is easier to follow than EZ’s.

Knitting in the Old Way has a much less opinionated discussion of knitting in the round, and it has larger percentages for sleeves.  And it even has a very complimentary section on combined knitting, explaining why the stitches tend to be more even than with English or Continental style knitting (and ha! I’m vindicated).

In looking at EZ’s yoked sweaters, I thought the yoke designs were tame compared to more traditional Icelandic sweaters.  I wanted more motifs on the yoke, which then led me to yoked sweaters on Ravelry and to Lopi sweaters.  So my next bit of background reading was The Best of Lopi, which arrived last week.  I wanted to take the chart and work with it to improve upon the one EZ shows in Knitting Workshop.  This was the sweater (Tanja) that I wanted to adapt.

  

The yarn I’m planning to use is stash yarn: Webs’ Valley Yarn Stockbridge.  I had gotten this yarn for another sweater for Ed, who informed me that one sweater was enough.  This yarn is 50% alpaca, 50% wool, and the same weight and yardage as Lopi Lite.  It is very nice for the price, and I had gotten it on sale at $3 a skein.  When I tried to fit my gauge into the patterns, like Tanja, that were for regular weight Lopi, I knew I’d have problems.  I need about a 10-inch depth for my yoke (the approximate radius that goes from the neck edge to the upper chest), and with the 40-row yoke in Tanja I’d only get about 6 inches.  In reading though the other patterns, I found one statement for a Lopi Lite pattern that said it had more yoke detail because it used lighter yarn.  And so to adapt Tanja for lighter yarn, I’d need to know more about yoke construction than I do.  And it has 4 decreases in the yoke that do not correspond to the percentages in either EZ or Knitting in the Old Way. So it was back to the drawing boards, in a sense.  

I found that The Best of Lopi has this beautiful pattern, Laela:

And Stockbridge works perfectly for its gauge.  I would have liked to knit it with roses that are pink, but I rationalized using my stash yarn by thinking roses can be white.  And the pattern says it would work in neutral colors too.  So I’ll be using the brown for the background and the natural and camel for the motifs.

This project, which is now officially on the needles, is supposed to be an “easy” sweater to give me something to do on nights I’m not up to knitting Sirdal.  It will require stranded work and chart reading too.  But I think it will complement my goals for the year of learning color knitting and also getting familiar enough with seamless sweaters to design my own.  Knitting from a pattern like this is not quite in keeping with EZ's philosophy of working on your own with her standard shape and your measurements, but it will help me for future Percentage-System sweaters.  Once this is done, perhaps I can figure out how to adapt Tanja for a lighter yarn and adjust the yoke properly.  (And it gives me an excuse to start another pair of socks for times when I’m not up to knitting either Sirdal or Laela.)

Comments

[Caroline M]

For me the main drawback in seamless sweaters is that there's little sense of making progress. I can knit a single piece back and see that something is finished whereas I knit and knit round and round and still have a half finished something. It doesn't make for portable knitting either, especially once the sleeves are attached.

[Linda M]

I feel much the same way you do about the gospel according to EZ. I take what I find good in her work and use it judiciously according to what suits me and my knitting. Yes, seamless sweaters have a lovely drape, but seams give a piece shape and body. And I don't mind purling at all, even though I am a right-handed thrower.

I love your chosen Lopi Lite sweater. I have that book and the roses pattern is marked for someday!

[Wool Enough]

Laela looks lovely. I bet it will be a fun knit.

Y'know I began knitting in 1961 and had never heard of EZ until quite recently. Strange, isn't it? But "Knitting in the Old Way" is one of my all-time favorite books.

[Lorette]

I've always found EZ's pronouncements a bit too opinionated, though I do like some of her finished sweaters. I don't quite get why some people will go to such lengths to avoid purling and seaming, but there you have it. I've done one EZ style sweater, and it turned out well, though it makes the whole thing pretty non-portable by the time you get the sleeves attached. I look forward to your progress with the chosen sweater.

[mary lou]

There is much in EZ that reminds me of the Joy of Cooking - that there One Best Way to do a thing. As you knit, or cook, you discover that there are many best ways, depending on the circumstances. I discovered EZ back in the late 70's when I was in college and knitting without tears opened my eyes to a new way to think. I'm sure your experience will help you look at EZ's pronouncements with a critical eye. The sweater looks lovely, hope it's a fun knit.

[Term papers]

It’s great to see good information being shared and also to see fresh, creative ideas that have never been done before.

[Anastasia Teterichko]

The efficiency of knitting in the round using the knit stitch and no seams is that your knitting is always facing you and you don't have to worry about your patterns matching and you are less likely to make mistakes as you are always watching your work. I prefer to create my own patterns rather than painstakingly follow other peoples and I need never to draw them out first on graph paper. I can imagine my patterns as I go and can really get creative with my work. As far as the integrity of the clothing which is made in this manner, I enjoy the antiquity of the seamless garment as it represents a more traditional style of clothes making, a simpler design that results in a more natural and sturdy garment.