Elizabeth Zimmermann once wrote ” So please bear with me, and put up with my opinionated, nay sometimes cantankerous attitude. I feel strongly about knitting”. Perhaps her passionate opinions, as well as her love of wool craft and her delightful style, hark back to her English upbringing or long residence in the Wisconsin woods; in any case this “Busy Knitter” as she calls herself, is one of the most charming and informative, as well as ‘unventive’ (her word) knitter-authors anywhere. This book gives full scope to her tireless imagination through a year’s worth of projects, fitted to the seasons, moods and needs of knitters who would like to design their own work.

The year begins with an Aran sweater and proceeds to February baby things, a March Shetland, April blanket, May mittens and so on through the months, completing the zodiac with November moccasin socks and a December last-minute wishbone sweater. Projects are completed in the midst of canoe trips, fishing expeditions, travel and snowstorms. The author continuously comments on the project, its history, other ancient and modern customs and personal beliefs.

Elizabeth Zimmermann works step-by-step with her reader, suggesting alternative methods and ideas as she goes. Her patterns are classic, historically suited to wool, thus remaining indefinitely fashionable as well as tasteful and attractice. The knitter may easily adapt the designs at will, creating new, individual projects. Her hints (such as how to measure gauge when working a pattern and tips for baby items) help ease the way and will instruct even the most experienced knitter. This edition of the Knitter’s Almanac will provide, at the very least, a year’s worth of knitting peasure to intermediate and advanced knitted and may help stimulate a knitting passion.