Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero: 3KCBWDAY3

Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero
Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it’s really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don’t forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person’s pictures.

As I read through each of the topics for this week I thought they all seemed so difficult to wrap my head around. The topics are not things I think about on a regular basis as I consider knitting to be my sanctuary from the more difficult things in life. This one day, the day where I get to talk about my knitting hero, was the one I knew exactly how to answer. Deep thought was not required.

My knitting hero is Elizabeth Zimmermann. I can’t remember when I first became aware of her. It had to be the 90’s because it was when I returned to knitting in a more serious way and we had finally gotten a computer. I remember there being a lot of discussion on The Knit List and Elizabeth’s name would come up pretty regularly. I picked up Knitting Without Tears (go down the page) to see what all the talk was about. OMG! It was as if I had breathed in my first real breath. I devoured the book and suddenly as if by osmosis I viewed my knitting differently. One day I went to the library and while looking for a video for H I happened upon Knitting Workshop (go down the page). My mind was blown. There is no other way to describe it. I watched the video and all the others that were available from my library. Elizabeth’s attitude about knitting and her love of this simple hobby shined through. My attitude about my knitting has been forever changed and I have Elizabeth to thank for that.

Elizabeth’s contribution to knitting continues. A search on Ravelry turns up page after page of patterns and there are groups devoted to her patterns. The business she started in the late 1950’s continues and is run by her daughter Meg.

If you are interested in reading about other Knitting and Crochet Heros search the tag in the title of this post. Enjoy.