'Yarn Harlot' to headline Finger Lakes Fiber FestivalDemocrat & Chronicle Newspaper, September 17, 2013
If you goWhat: 19th annual Finger Lakes Fiber Festival. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is not terribly monogamous when it comes to her second love. The “Yarn Harlot,” as she calls She is quick to point out that her tendency to stray is strictly limited to knitting, pointing out the many socks she has lovingly knit for her husband as proof. Pearl-McPhee, keynote speaker for the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival, is a popular blogger and best-selling author of several books, most recently The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes, about dealing with everyday issues. The festival Saturday and Sunday at the Hemlock Fairgrounds in Livingston County, includes exhibits, competitions and workshops on a wide variety of fiber arts. There will be free how-to demonstrations of hand-spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving, felting, lace-making, rug-hooking and basket-weaving. Pearl-McPhee learned about knitting from her grandmother. She was 4 years old and remembers running into her grandmother’s backyard, where she proudly announced: “Guess what? I learned how to read!” Her grandmother responded: “Well, if you could learn Pearl-McPhee remembers looking at the knitting, and thinking, “This is something interesting.” She still feels that way. “There are certainly better knitters than me,” she said, “but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who loves knitting more than me.” Unlike her grandmother, who was paid for her knitting, Pearl-McPhee knits for the love of it and for the ones she loves. Primarily, she views herself as a writer. The Toronto native, praised for her wit and dry humor, will presents “This is your Brain on Knitting,” which will highlight scientific studies A multi-platform yarn spinner says knitting is not a mere idle pastime. “I take every opportunity to say to knitters: ‘You’re not silly (for knitting). Never before have so many of us known so little about how the world works,” she says. “We spend a lot of our day engaged with things, like computers Above all else, Pearl-McPhee endeavors to underscore, if you’ll pardon the expression, the knitting community’s close-knit character. “I pride myself on not distinguishing myself from other knitters,” she says. “I just want to be a part of the knitting community. I think most knitters feel the same way.” “Knitters have a long history of being deeply social,” she adds. “Early American knitting groups gathered together for reasons of efficiency In an age when social media is the preferred f orm of communication Page |
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'Yarn Harlot' to headline Finger Lakes Fiber FestivalDemocrat & Chronicle Newspaper, September 17, 2013
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