Debbie Stoller

TAKE BACK THE NEEDLES! For years and years knitting was what your grandmother did. Women involved in the women's movement didn't knit. Now it's what the young and hip do because they want to. The women's movement moves on to a new generation and a new chapter. Knitting like racing cars or running corporations is a way a woman asserts her independence. That was the message of this book. It intrigued me on so many levels. When I picked up this book I was a brand new knitter who had barely show more learned the knit and purl stitch from a kit. I have made a hat and a sweater directly from this book. I enjoyed that any stitch or technique you were using was quick referenced on the pattern to the page in the book. I've since taken a sweater pattern, and using just the front of the sweater, started making a cable shawl from some of my 50/50 camel/silk homespun. (I'm also a spinner.) This book inspires that much confidence in your abilities. show less

I love Stoller's books, They are written and illustrated in ways that make sense to me and, as a primarily self-taught knitter, that's been hugely helpful. In this one she covers knitting with color, cabling and lace using the same witty conversational tone she's used in all of her Stitch 'N Bitch books. She manages to demystify the techniques and lingo enough to convince me that I want to try all of these techniques and that, furthermore, I'll be succesful at doing so.

This is an awesome, inspiring book. I figured I'd just browse through the patterns a little, but the next thing I knew I'd read it cover to cover. I've been knitting since I was five, so I wasn't relying on this book to teach me how, but it still got me thinking about the whole process of knitting in an entirely new way. It also got me thinking about issues of "women's work" vs. "men's work," and gender roles in our society. Very good stuff. The instructions are readable and entertaining, show more and most of the patterns are really funky. show less

In BUST we've captured the voice of a brave new girl: one that is raw and real, straightforward and sarcastic, smart and silly, and liberally sprinkled with references to our own Girl Culture." So say Marcelle Karp and Debbie Stoller, smart, sassy founders of BUST ("the magazine for women with something to get off their chests"), and editors of this funky, fabulous, neofeminist manifesto. The Guide to the New Girl Order collects the best of BUST, including thoughtful articles, personal show more essays, and racy rants about anything from abortion to the lameness of the Lifetime television network. In their own words, they address "that shared set of female experiences that includes Barbies and blowjobs, sexism and shoplifting, Vogue and vaginas."
Having started out as a hand-stapled zine, BUST swims with an in-your-face, grrrl power attitude that alternately taunts, encourages, and calls readers to battle. Contributors range from mysterious authors with names like Betty Boob and Scarlett Fever to such famous femmes as Courtney Love. Karp and Stoller organize the pieces into sections labeled "Sex and the Thinking Girl, "Men Are from Uranus," etc., offering introductions for each that provide humor, insight, and cultural context. And with selections like "Sex, Lies, and Tampax," "How to Be as Horny as a Guy," and "Bitch on Heels," this is not your mother's ladies' journal. Also included are such hilarious explorations of pop culture as "The Mysterious Eroticism of Mini-Backpacks," "My Keanu, A Fantasy," and "Bring Me the Head of Melanie Banderas." Whether you're intimidated or intrigued by such an irreverent approach to redefining the feminine, there's only more to come--and there's no place to hide. As the editors warn, "Wake up and smell the lipgloss, ladies: the New Girl Order has arrived." --Brangien Davis show less