Elizabeth, Zimmermann that is. Knitting Without Tears was one of the first knitting books I bought when I got back into knitting about 8 years ago. I loved her folksy style of writing and the fact that she encourages knitters to take charge of their knitting. Her no nonsense approach always appealed to me, so when I really got into knitting I started to collect all the EZ books that were available.
I especially love Knitting Around for the stories about her early life in Europe. I have made the Baby Surprise Sweater which is so ingenious! I hope to make many more of her patterns and am anxious to try a sweater using her percentage system. To read more about EZ and learn about her books see this link. I have the updated A Knitting Glossary DVD of Elizabeth and her daughter, Meg Swansen, on order and I can't wait to see it.