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. 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". 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. Pearl-McPhee has protested against cuts to library services. 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. 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. 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==