Knitter's Almanac is a classic knitting book by Elizabeth Zimmermann, and Dover makes it available at a bargain price. It features EZ's charming, conversational style and a collection of her innovative designs and techniques. Fans of Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears, Knitting Around, or Knitter's Workshop will want to add this to their collection. If you have never knitted before, or never worked with one of Elizabeth's books, I recommend starting with Knitting Without Tears, which is designed for beginners and is a good introduction to her style of instruction. Elizabeth's patterns are not written in standard notation, but in conversational English. For instance, her baby leggings begin, "For longies, therefore, I cast on sufficiently for the waist and work a piece of ribbing." People seem to either find her style charming or frustrating. It might be good to get a copy of one of her books from the local library and see how you like her writing style before buying her books. For her devoted fans however, this book is a must-have. It includes a classic aran pattern, baby jacket and leggings (she calls them "longies"), an innovative sweater combining cabling with colorwork, her unusually constructed "Mystery Blanket", some mittens, hats, her classic "Pi Shawl", some Christmas ornaments, grown-up wool leggings (with or without feet), her open-collared pullover (an innovatively constructed knitted golf shirt), re-footable moccasin socks, and her "Hurry-Up Last Minute Sweater". There is an appendix full of illustrated instructions for techniques such as stocking stitch and garter stitch grafting, knitted-on sideways border, casting-on cast-off, sewn cast-off, provisional or invisible cast-on, thumb trick for afterthought mitten thumbs, afterthought pockets, and i-cord border. All of her patterns are worked in the round with few seams, and most are full of the unusual techniques she delighted in developing. Following them you will nearly always learn new techniques you can apply to other projects of your own. I purchased the book for her baby legging pattern (which works for any gauge yarn and any size baby you choose), and for the Pi Shawl, which is ideal for lace knitters who like to add their own lace stitches to a basic pattern. Also, I enjoy her conversational style of instruction, and find it a nice change from the norm.

I'm making the Aran Pullover for someone with narrow shoulders. What I find wonderful about this book is Elizabth explains how and where to make inc/dec within the aran pattern. She takes the control away from the pattern and puts it back with the knitter.

I discovered this book, to my delight, at a local bookstore. Although it shares qualities with EZ's other texts, I find it to be not quite as useful as "Knitting without Tears" or "Knitting in the round". Still, the patterns are interesting and the almanac is well-written.