Debbie Stoller is a New York Times best-selling American author, publisher, feminist commentator and knitting expert whose work includes magazines as well as books. [1] She lives in Brooklyn, New York City. [2] Stoller is the co-founder, co-owner and editor-in-chief of the culture magazine BUST , which she and Marcelle Karp launched in 1993.
Stoller holds a master's degree in psychobiology and a Ph.D in the psychology of women, both from Yale University. [3]
Stoller has been credited with being one of the founders of "girlie feminism", a third-wave feminist strategy in which traditional feminine activities and traits—especially those rejected by second wave feminists of the 1970s as being oppressive—are re-evaluated and often embraced.
In 1993, she co-founded BUST magazine, which was a self-funded part time project for seven years, before being sold to RSub in 2000, enabling Stoller to work on BUST full time. After 9/11, the magazine went out of business temporarily. Costs to recover the business for raised with the help of the magazine's supporters. [4]
In 1999, Stoller and Karp co-edited The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order, which was a compilation of the best writing from BUST magazine to that point. In 1999, Stoller formed a Stitch 'n Bitch group in New York City's East Village to teach and encourage others to knit, and began writing about her hobby and her group in BUST magazine. In 2003, Stoller authored Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook, the first of the best-selling [1] Stitch'n Bitch series of knitting books, calendars and journals. It was followed by Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, which also made the New York Times Best Seller list, Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker, Son of Stitch 'n Bitch, and Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting. She hosts and teaches on Stitch 'n Beach cruises and Stitch 'n Bitch Tuscany. [5] Stoller encourages her readers to take on the "feminine" activity of knitting and organize their own Stitch 'N Bitch sessions in their communities. [6] In 2010, Stoller teamed with Red Heart to launch a yarn line, Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller.
Stoller has been described in Vogue Knitting as on "a quest to rehabilitate so-called women's work". [7] She has said "Since I started knitting and discovered all the sexism and stigma connected with it because of its association with women, I really wanted to make an effort to get as many people as possible interested in this to help elevate its cultural image". [7]
Stoller has appeared on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The Roseanne Show , Good Morning America , The Today Show, and NPR’s All Things Considered . Stoller has appeared as special guest at the Dutch Stitch 'n Bitch Dag in Rotterdam each year since 2006. She made her debut appearance at a UK knitting show on November 10, 2007, as special guest for I Knit London's UK Stitch 'n Bitch Day 2007 where she hosted a workshop, fashion parade and booklaunch for the fourth in her Stitch 'n Bitch book series: Son of Stitch 'n Bitch.
Knitting is a method for production of textile fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Bust is a women's lifestyle magazine that is published four times a year. The magazine is published by Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel. Bust covers music, news, crafts, art, sex, and fashion from an independent ("indie"), third wave feminist perspective. The magazine's slogan is "For women with something to get off their chest."
Marcelle Karp, a.k.a. Betty Boob,, is an American feminist writer, editor, and television director and producer.
The "sweater curse" or "curse of the love sweater" is a term used by knitters and crocheters to describe the belief that if a knitter or crocheter gives a hand-knit sweater to a significant other, it will lead to the recipient breaking up with the knitter. In an alternative formulation, the relationship will end before the sweater is even completed. The belief is widely discussed in knitting publications, and some knitters claim to have experienced it. In a 2005 poll, 15% of active knitters said that they had experienced the sweater curse firsthand, and 41% considered it a possibility that should be taken seriously.
Basic knitted fabrics include stocking stitch, reverse stocking stitch, garter stitch, seed stitch, faggoting, and tricot. In some cases, these fabrics appear differently on the right side than on the wrong side.
In knitting, crochet and other handmade textile arts, blocking is a final stage of handmade textile production that adjusts the shape and size of the finished piece. Not all pieces need blocking; however, blocking is standard for lace work and is not uncommon in sweaters, socks, and other solid projects. Through heat and moisture, blocking sets the stitches and standardizes the final dimensions, and may enhance the drape. Hand manufacture places natural stresses on fabrics that may result in deviations from its intended shape and size. Blocking is only effective on natural fibres but a technique called killing may be used on synthetic fibres to achieve an effect similar to blocking.
Stitch 'n Bitch is a name that has been used to refer to social knitting groups since at least World War II. Before the slang term "Stitch 'n Bitch" was used, groups of women in the 1940s would join to knit and talk in organized Stitch and Bitch clubs. The term was further used in the 1980s as part of the book Social History of American Knitting by Anne Macdonald. It is partly due to the book's success that the modern day Stitch 'n Bitch knitting groups have emerged in cities around the world. The groups, mainly women, meet to knit, stitch and talk. Typically, attendees knit, though others crochet, and still others engage in cross-stitching, embroidery, and other needlecraft. Nowadays, the groups have been analyzed by scholars as expressions of resistance to major political, social and technological change in Western societies. However, political discussion is not unusual at these events, and at least some participants are proponents of progressive, liberal, and/or leftist social and political change. Furthermore, the term Stitch 'n Bitch is now used by women from across the globe to connect with others in the virtual space seeing as the term has re-emerged in a world where the public sphere is the cyberspace.
Stitch London is a knitting group in London, England, who meet weekly in various venues across central London to knit in public. It is also a virtual knitting group whose members join via newsletter, Facebook, Ravelry, and Twitter. Its members number in their thousands and it has a global membership despite being based in London.
Knitting clubs are a feature of the 21st-century revival of hand knitting which began in America and has spread to most of Europe. Despite the name, knitting clubs are not limited to knitting; both crochet-centered and knit-centered clubs are collectively called "knitting clubs." While knitting has never gone away completely, this latest reincarnation is less about the make-do and mend of the 1940s and 1950s, and more about making a statement about individuality and developing a sense of community.
A granny square is a piece of square fabric produced in crochet by working in rounds from the center outward. Granny squares are traditionally handmade as crochet and cannot be manufactured by machine. They resemble coarse lace. Although there is no theoretical limit to the maximum size of a granny square, crocheters usually create multiple small squares and assemble the pieces to make clothing, purses, Afghan blankets, and other household textiles.
A dye lot is a record taken during the dyeing of yarn to identify yarn that received its coloration in the same vat at the same time. Yarn manufacturers assign each lot a unique identification number and stamp it on the label before shipping. Slight differences in temperature, dyeing time, and other factors can result in different shades of the same color between different dye lots of otherwise identical production. Although the component elements of a dye lot number are of interest only for internal business recordkeeping, retail yarn consumers have an interest in ensuring that they purchase a given color of yarn from identical dye lots.
In crochet, a stitch marker is a mnemonic device used to distinguish important locations on a work in progress. Crochet patterns have a mathematical basis, so stitch markers serve as a visual reference that takes the place of continuous stitch counting and reduces a crocheter's error rate.
A hook gauge or needle gauge is a measuring device used by crocheters and knitters to test the sizes of particular crochet hooks and knitting needles. Hook gauges are usually made of plastic or aluminum and have sizing holes from 2mm to 11mm diameter. A hook gauge also functions as a ruler to test the size of a test swatch of handmade fabric.
Hand knitting is a form of knitting, in which the knitted fabric is produced by hand using needles.
I Knit London is a knitting organisation based in London, England, UK, comprising a knitting group, knitting shop and knitting events. I Knit London was formed in December 2005, and is run, by Gerard Allt and Craig Carruthers.
Yarn bombing is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk. It is also called wool bombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting, or graffiti knitting.
Jane Gaugain was a Scottish knitter and writer. She built up a successful business in Edinburgh, Scotland, and published 16 volumes on knitting that helped make it a popular pastime for ladies and a source of income for lower classes of women. Her unusually-written pattern books are important in the history of textiles in Scotland.
Ponte is a thick, double knit fabric design produced on double jersey knitting machines. It is one of the firm, stable structures of knits with a subtle sheen. This fabric is heavier and thicker than a regular jersey. As with most of the other double knit designs, Ponte is reversible. The fabric is also known as ''Ponte di Roma.''
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