Stephanie Pearl-McPhee


Stephanie Anne Pearl-McPhee is a writer, knitter, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and doula living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Life

Pearl-McPhee's grandmother, a professional knitter, taught her to knit when she was four years old. She has three daughters and one grandson. Her husband, Joe, is a record producer.

Work

Pearl-McPhee has contributed articles and patterns to knitting magazines such as Cast On, Interweave Knits, Knitty, Stranded, and Spin-Off. She also contributed a chapter to the book Knitlit Too. In addition, she has written eight books on knitting.
She has been described as a knitting humourist.
One of Pearl-McPhee's best known works is her blog, which also carries the moniker "The Yarn Harlot". In 2004, she founded Tricoteuses sans Frontières, a group dedicated to raising money for the non-profit Médecins Sans Frontières. As of the 6th anniversary of Pearl-McPhee's blog, they have contributed over $1,000,000 CAD to MSF/DWB.
Pearl-McPhee has protested against cuts to library services.
In 2006, she started the 2006 Knitting Olympics, a competition for knitters to start and finish one challenging project during the timeframe of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Over 4,000 knitters worldwide participated.
Pearl-McPhee often makes personal appearances at conventions, book stores and other craft-related events where she shares her view of life and knitting with fellow crafters.
Pearl-McPhee originated the word kinnear on August 2, 2007, on her blog. Now cited in the Urban Dictionary and in The New York Times' 2007 Word in Review, it is defined as "kinnear v. To take a candid photograph surreptitiously, especially by holding the camera low and out of the line of sight." Kinnearing was originated when she attempted to take a picture of Greg Kinnear at an airport while on her way to Boston, MA. When Kinnear learned of this, he started to try kinnearing others, including his Flash of Genius costar, Alan Alda. He showed his attempts on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where, in the same interview, he declared that Pearl-McPhee is "the Michael Jordan of knitting."

Books