| Stephanie Pearl-McPhee | |
| Birth Name: | Stephanie Anne Pearl-McPhee |
| Birth Date: | 14 June 1968 |
| Penname: | The Yarn Harlot |
| Occupation: | Writer, knitting teacher, blogger, doula |
Stephanie Anne Pearl-McPhee, also known as the Yarn Harlot (born June 14, 1968) is a writer, knitter, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and doula living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Pearl-McPhee's grandmother, a professional knitter, taught her to knit when she was four years old.[1] [2] She has three daughters.[1] [3] Her husband, Joe, is a record producer.[4]
Pearl-McPhee has written eight books on knitting. She has contributed articles and patterns to knitting magazines such as Cast On, Interweave Knits, Knitty, Stranded, and Spin-Off. She contributed a chapter to the book Knitlit Too. Pearl-McPhee has said that she started writing about knitting when she lost her hospital job "support[ing] birth and breast-feeding" because of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak among healthcare workers.[2] She has been described as a knitting humourist, and has called her own writing "knitting humor".[5] [6] She has said of her writing "I believe knitting is a transformative and intriguing act that can change the life and brain of the person doing it, and that knitting is a perfect metaphor for life and insight into some better ways through it".[6]
Pearl-McPhee is known for her blog, "The Yarn Harlot".[2] [7] [8] In 2004, she founded Tricoteuses sans Frontières (Knitters without Borders), a group dedicated to raising money for the non-profit Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). As of the 6th anniversary of Pearl-McPhee's blog (January 2010), they have contributed over $1,000,000 CAD to MSF/DWB.[9]
Pearl-McPhee has protested against cuts to library services.[10]
In 2006, she started the 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 originated the word kinnear on August 2, 2007, on her blog.[11] Now cited in the Urban Dictionary and in The New York Times' 2007 Word in Review,[12] 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.[4] When Kinnear learned of this, he started to try kinnearing others, including his Flash of Genius costar, Alan Alda.[13] 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."