YarnCraft Episode 04 :: Behind the Scenes with the Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

27 Nov

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Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPheeIn this special episode, we spend time talking to popular author and blogger, the hilarious and insightful Stephanie Pearl-McPhee–we find out about her life as a knitting celebrity, learn about how she founded Knitters without Borders to support Doctors without Borders, get some advice about yarncrafting, and more.

(Visit Stephanie’s blog by clicking Yarn Harlot)

First, Liz and Zontee share their thoughts about why they like Stephanie’s writings so much. Then Jessica interviews Stephanie and talks to her about what she likes to knit, Knitters without Borders, getting recognized in yarn shops, her current projects, and her life as a writer/knitter/doula/mother/wife/et cetera!

Zontee asks Stephanie just a few of the (over 80!) listener questions we received, including one about Stephanie’s lightning-quick knitting on YouTube. Click here to read the rest of the questions.

Stephanie’s books include:
At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much
Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter
Knitting Rules! The Yarn Harlot’s Bag of Knitting Tricks
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting
and Things I Learned from Knitting (Whether I Wanted to or Not) coming out in 2008

Stash This: Ideas for Your Crafting Life–Liz and Zontee talk about their stashes and how they organize their crafting materials,
taking into consideration what works for them.

Be sure to listen for a special coupon code for YarnCraft listeners. Use it to get 15% off your purchase at LionBrand.com, from now until the end of December. Visit our shop now!

To leave your comments and thoughts, post a message on the blog, email to yarncraft [at] lionbrand [dot] com! We may even feature you in an upcoming episode! For our next episode, leave a comment about a man (or men) in your life who knits or crochets.

Look for YarnCraft on Blubrry.com.

Theme music is “Boy with a Coin” by Iron and Wine, from the PodSafe Music Network.

Direct Download

Show Notes:
00:15 Intro and Welcome
02:06 Liz’s and Zontee’s thoughts on Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
04:15 Interview with Stephanie
05:19 What’s Stephanie’s favorite thing to knit?
07:17 Does Stephanie get recognized a lot?
09:57 What might surprise listeners about Stephanie?
13:56 What’s a day in the life of Stephanie like?
18:48 Has Stephanie noticed any knitter commonalities or local quirks in her travels?
22:39 What advice does Stephanie have for beginner knitters?
23:44 Stephanie discusses Knitters without Borders
28:05 What is one thing that Stephanie thinks every yarncrafter needs?
29:30 Stephanie talks about her upcoming books
31:30 Listener questions for Stephanie
33:10 Is Stephanie is a process or project knitter?
33:41 Is Stephanie a thrower or a picker?
35:33 Stranded on a desert island, what book would Stephanie bring with her?
36:17 How does Stephanie knit and read at the same time?
37:43 Are knitters naturally generous or is it the yarn fumes?
39:21 Does Stephanie feel pressure to be funny around knitters?
41:48 What would Stephanie knit with if she had no yarn?
43:20 Do Stephanie’s daughters knit?
46:40 How does Stephanie write embarrassing things about herself in a humorous and lighthearted way?
48:54 How does Stephanie knit so fast?
52:24 Stash This: Ideas for Your Crafting Life—organizing your stash
56:40 Special coupon code for listeners!
57:10 Thanks and preview of next episode

  • http://desertsunsets.blogspot.com Pamela

    Loved this podcast! I’ve enjoyed each one so far. It’s inspiring hearing from other yarncrafters.

    I haven’t read any of Stephanie’s books yet, but they are on my wishlist, and now I want to read them even more after listening to her.

    Don’t know any men who knit, but my 7-year-old son wants to learn. Perhaps I should hurry up and teach him.

  • http://www.pam-knitting.blogspot.com Pam

    I also loved this podcast! Stephanie is so funny. I have her book “Knitting Rules” and love the way she explains how to knit the basics. I knit my first pair of socks following her explanations. :)

    I thought it was funny that she said she could parachute in to Texas and still be able to have a conversation because she’d find knitters. We Texas folks aren’t that much different from you Canadians, are we?

    But, the best moment for me was hearing her talk about the advice her mom gave her to not rush around and clean the house up before the others got there. She’s a mom, a knitter, an author, a wife, and she doesn’t have a perfectly clean house. Woohoo! Someone like the rest of us.

    Thanks for this podcast!

  • Senora Feinstein

    I LOVE the podcast! i find it awesome that something i mentioned got listened to! new idea: how about podcasts that have the actual knitting instructions like the podcast secret knitting. Keep up the awesome work!!!

  • http://twistedharefiberarts.blogspot.com Tama

    Really enjoyed this podcast. I love Stephanie’s writings and enjoyed learning more about her as a person.

  • Mellanie

    This was a great podcast! You guys did an excellent job of asking a lot of different questions and just letting Stephanie talk. Really well done! I have enjoyed the past podcasts as well.

  • http://www.jrhighknitting.blogspot.com/ Wendy

    I’m so inspired by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Thank you for having her on your podcast!

    When you asked for comments on the men in our life who knit…I actually have about 10 of them. I am lucky enough to teach a knitting class to 7th and 8th graders. They sign up for the class as an elective and so I was very surprised this past quarter to find that I had more boys than girls in my class! Boys handle the task of learning to knit a bit differently than the girls. They are a bit more relaxed and less uptight about the perfection of their knitting. Because of this attitude, some of my best knitters have actually been the boys!! Each one has been quite proud of his finished work. The biggest challenge has been to find a variety of beginning projects for boys. Most of the projects we look at are for girls. Any guidance in this area would be much appreciated!! Thanks!

  • Grace

    GREAT Podcast. I was SOOOO excited to hear Stephanie explain irish cottage knitting. I thought it sounded familiar to my own modified throwing. However I coun’t wrap my head around the way she describes holding the right needle (like a pencil) so I found another great video with close ups of her knitting:

    http://www.archive.org/details/irishcottageknitting

    I’m still wondering how she holds the right needle when she isn’t working on small items like socks….. what about a large project on long circulars?

  • Abigail

    Thanks so much for having Stephanie for a podcast! She’s always a delight to listen to and I really enjoyed getting to hear another dose of her very real life. It’s so wonderful to get to identify with someone who has also written four amazingly successful books!

    Going well so far…looking forward to what you ladies come up with next.

  • http://www.teeweewonders.blogspot.com teeweewonders

    Having read “The Secret Life of a Knitter” and been an ardent follower of The Yarn Harlot’s blog for ages, I can’t wait to listen to this podcast, which is the first I’ve ever downloaded!

  • http://yarncraft.lionbrand.com YarnCraft

    Just want to thank everyone for their enthusiasm about this episode! We had a GREAT time talking with Stephanie.

    Hi Wendy, you can search our Pattern Finder using filers, such as “Used By” which allows you to pick “boys” as an option.

    Some of our most adorable, kid-friendly patterns are our various amigurumi animals. Check them out here.

    ~Zontee~

  • Kris

    You mentioned submitting stories of guys who knit at the end of this podcast but am I feeling really clueless right now: I cannot figure out how to do it. Can you please point out the (sure to be) obvious? Thanks!

  • http://yarncraft.lionbrand.com YarnCraft

    Hi Kris,

    No worries–we all get confused sometimes :-)

    You can always leave stories/comments in three ways: (1) Leave your story here on the blog as a comment, (2) call into our message line (206-350-3957) and leave us a voicemail, or (3) e-mail us at yarncraft [at] lionbrand [dot] com.

    All of this information is also always in each new episode and the accompanying blog posts. Hope that helps!

    ~Zontee~

  • http://mysweetiepeas.com kat

    thank you for creating such an enjoyable podcast, easy to listen to and funny :)

    Man/Yarn story:

    My husband doesn’t knit or crochet but has played a huge part in my crocheting life. He listens to me ramble about yarn for hours, will travel 45 minutes for one skein of specific yarn or take driving duties so I can get some crochet time in.

    He’s way more patient than me and is always willing to help de-tangle my latest mess of yarn ball gone wrong. Gotta love a guy that’s that devoted to his wife’s obsessions :)

    Keep up the great shows
    -Kat

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