Debbie Stoller

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Debbie Stoller

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.

Contents

Education

Stoller holds a master's degree in psychobiology and a Ph.D in the psychology of women, both from Yale University. [3]

Career

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, Stoller (using the alias "Celina Hex") [4] and Karp (using the alias "Betty Boob") co-founded BUST magazine. Bust 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. [5]

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. [6] Stoller encourages her readers to take on the "feminine" activity of knitting and organize their own Stitch 'N Bitch sessions in their communities. [7] 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". [8] 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". [8]

Guest appearances

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.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knitting</span> Method of forming fabric

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.

A crochet hook is an implement used to make loops in thread or yarn and to interlock them into crochet stitches. It is a round shaft pointed on one end, with a lateral groove behind it. The point eases the insertion of the hook through the material being crocheted and the groove makes it possible to pull a loop back through the material. The shaft is then divided into a working area that determines the hook's nominal diameter and ensures the uniform sizing of the loops formed on it, and a handle.

<i>Bust</i> (magazine) American womens lifestyle magazine founded in 1993

Bust is a women's lifestyle magazine that is published four times a year. The magazine was started by Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel and is currently published by Street Media LLC. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blocking (textile arts)</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stitch 'n Bitch</span> Name for some social knitting groups

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stitch London</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sew Fast Sew Easy</span> American corporation based in New York City

Sew Fast Sew Easy was a corporation based in the Garment District in New York City, that is best known for sewing classes, sewing patterns and sewing books. It was founded in 1991 by Elissa K. Meyrich, a designer in New York City's garment district for over 26 years, an instructor at Parsons School of Design, and an author and contributing writer to sewing publications. Sew Fast Sew Easy classes were part of a resurgence in traditional home economics enabled by networked technologies including Internet chat groups and digitally-adjustable patterns.

A knitting club is a social group in which knitting and crochet enthusiasts gather to do needlework together. They 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granny square</span> Crocheted block assembled to make larger textiles


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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dye lot</span> Record for identifying dyed yarn

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stitch marker (crochet)</span> Mnemonic device used to distinguish important locations on a crochet work in progress

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hook gauge</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarn bombing</span> Type of graffiti or street art

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte (Fabric)</span> Type of knit fabric pattern

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.''

References

  1. 1 2 "Inside the List" The New York Times, November 28, 2004
  2. Author bio on publisher site
  3. Tiku, Nitasha. "Backgrounder: Debbie Stoller". Bullpen. NYU Journalism. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  4. Glenn, Joshua (December 19, 2013). "REGRESSION TOWARD THE ZINE (17)". HiLoBrow. Bust cofounder Debbie Stoller (Celina Hex)...
  5. Sygiel, Julie. "Bust Magazine's Story Of Rising From The Ashes After Shutting Down 16 Years Ago". Forbes. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  6. Stitch 'n Bitch Tuscany
  7. "Home". stitchnbitch.org. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Chatting with Knitting's New Guard". Vogue Knitting. 2007 (Fall): 86–103. 2007.