Day 11: Do you have a “Knitter Hero” or someone that is just way too awesome for their own good? Do share!
It’s so funny you asked that! I’ve long been a fan of The Yarn Harlot, aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She is, for starters, a fabulous knitter. She’s also the first knitting blogger to enter my radar. Her witty and sometimes wry accounts of her knitting exploits are always both informative and amusing. For over twelve years, she’s consistently shared her challenges and successes along with small vignettes of her life and family. Her posts have helped me to realize that even crazy skilled and prolific knitters sometimes have trouble getting started, trouble counting, or trouble trusting their instincts. Sometimes those knitters even end up playing yarn chicken. Reading her writing has helped me up my own game more than once, too. I borrowed this technique twice now and have had good luck with it. Also, I love that she loves beer and coffee*. On top of all of that, she’s an author several times over, a speaker, and a teacher.
So imagine my surprise when I checked my email yesterday and saw the name “Stephanie Pearl-McPhee” in my inbox. It didn’t immediately register, actually. Admittedly, my head was elsewhere–I had just left a job interview, I was thinking about finding a gas station, etc, etc. For once, I wasn’t really thinking about knitting. Then, when I opened the email, it all came flooding back.
You see, the Yarn Harlot embarks every year on a significant charitable fund raising effort. She rides in the PWA’s Friends For Life Bike Rally, a six day and 600 km ride from Toronto to Montreal. The proceeds from this event benefit the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation. As part of this fundraiser, she hosts a giveaway on her blog. She’s dubbed it “karmic balancing gifts”. You can enter the giveaway by donating to the bike rally and then sending her an email to let her know (more detailed instructions can be found on her blog). Then, readers volunteer to donate fiber-related stuff. She matches them up at random, announces the winners on her blog, and notifies them via email.
I haven’t been able to work for several months due to a back injury, so I’m not in a place right now to give a ton to charity. However, every little bit helps and I chipped in a modest donation. And then promptly forgot about it, until I read her email saying I had won a karmic balancing gift! She posted a pic on her blog of the goodies that will be finding their way to me soon:
Cool, right?? Life is hard right now, but…I’ve said it before: the fiber world just keeps giving back to me, over and over. These three skeins are compliments of Lisa L. My thanks to her and to Stephanie for coordinating such an awesome endeavor!
*If you only click on one link out of this post, this is the one. Just do it. You can thank me later.
The 30 Day Knitting Challenge is the creation of Meggiewes who blogs at Knitting in Wonderland.
alexand knits 
Congrats on another win! You truly are lucky! I read the story about the coffee and it cracked me up 🙂 Although I rarely drink coffee anymore (unless I truly need a get up and go), in my former days that would have been so me! I drink tea now and since I buy all the things in the house, my husband never has to worry about his coffee.
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Thanks! I know, right? It’s pretty crazy. I’ll take whatever good karma comes my way, though. I just try to spread it around again as best I can.
I don’t drink coffee much anymore, either, but I still like a cup now and then. I used to drink a couple of cups a day, though, and would have been sunk if someone switched it out for decaf!
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