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Makin' Hay

We interrupt your normal broadcast to opine on some crazeh.

ESE_0502d
Sundara Sock, Wood Studies #?


Now, I don't know about you, but I am prone to outlandish thoughts. (I used to berate myself on this tendency, feeling it a necessary postmortem. I embrace it now, letting my fancy go where it may and then marveling at its produce). For reasons I won't bore you with, my mind always assumes the worst, fulling the details where needed.

Ever since I invested in my second Elizabeth Zimmerman book and saw the same biological material reiterated alongside just one pearl of her wisdom I was after, only to find I needed another one of her books to get another one of her pearls of wisdom, and pay for another iteration of her "I am a knitting heretic" biography, well, I've grown a little bit ornery towards the old dame.

Oh, yes, I thought the biographical material was fabulous. The first time. But the second and third and fourth time, I felt violated by an unctuous substance. I cogitated on this emotional response for some time. I thought it was me, as I'm a narcissist, and when I'm reading an EZ book, it is obvious I am not the only one in the room with me. And well, there is only room for one narcissist in any room.

But then, something else began to happen...

I subscribe to Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits. Every time I open up one of these magazines I see the same biological material on EZ regurgitated. And let's be honest, figuratively speaking I throw up a little in my mouth. (Bad knitter. Bad!)

Every single issue needs an article on Elizabeth Zimmerman? Is that really necessary? She is a knit-scene rock star. Yes, she is. But the bald-faced facts are that she is deceased, not making any more patterns, and the author of patterns modern to 1965 that are not user friendly to a 21st century audience.

Am I the only one noticing and thinking the veneration is excessive? The only one that thinks this veneration a tiny, a wee bit, obscene? Also, is Meg Swanson, EZ's rock star knitter daughter, a one woman NYC PR firm? Or is the industry itself mining Zimmerman ad nauseam? Why, why, why?

And if you are going to worship at the EZ alter, make it fresh, make it new. Gosh knows her genius could be explored (and probably has been by knitters in their own bubbles for 40 some odd years) in so many novel ways. Why are we treated to the same old, same old again and again?

Now I could go on Ravelry and ask these crazeh questions and get some reasonable answers why these two magazines lay themselves prostrate to Meg and her mom's genius every single issue, but I'm not interested in the real answer. I prefer to marinate in my crazeh conspiracy theories, thankyouverymuch.

Plus, any seasoned forum reader (fora, fuck you) knows the drama that would ensue would be hearty and well, I'm just not up for it. I like my bubble. And it's a fantasy to think a reasonable person would answer that type of question on Ravelry. LOL. Are you kiddin' me? But seriously, I haven't been keeping up with the forums in some time so maybe I'm wrong, maybe there are reasonable people there who would answer those explosive questions.

Lolololol...