knit year resolutions 2016

We're nearly 1/12th of the way through 2016 and here I am, just now getting to publishing my new year's resolutions. As they say, better late than never!

This year I'm very excited to not only grow Goodstitch a lot and grow as a fiber artist, I want to leave a lot of room for experimentation, new techniques and crafts, while also diving deeper. 2015 was a lot of "What is it that I want to do?" and so for 2016 I'm thinking a lot more about, "How can I do what I'm doing better?" I know this year will bring so many surprises and changes, with the Mr. finishing up medical school and finding out where we'll be for the next 4 years for residency, and I'm excited to grow through those changes and also, to leave room for surprises and new desires because of those changes. As far as skills and techniques go, here are some things I would love to accomplish this year: 

• Sew 5 pieces by the summertime for my wardrobe. Part of this has to do with skill development, and part of it has to do with making clothes that fit the way that I am comfortable, and embracing my body for however it is!
• Sew a lap quilt. We are a ways a way from thinking about kids, but I'd love to be able to sew and quilt as one of my life-long goals for my children someday. So baby steps! (No pun intended)
• Knit my 2nd sweater. It's hard to believe that it was last summer that I made my first one! I have 2 sweater's quantities of yarn in my stash right now that I'd love to dig into!
• Knit Brandon a sweater. Because once you're married, the boyfriend sweater curse gets lifted, and also because this guy is the greatest and deserves a handknit sweater!
• Knit socks for exercising. Perfect short little projects, exercising motivation through knitting. Hoping this will be a way to trick myself into running more often. :)
• Keep building relationships in my fiber community. One of my biggest blessings in 2015 FOR SURE, and I'm excited to keep on connecting with new makers and getting to know the ladies in my knit group more, building community with people who share my passions near and far. 

I'd love to hear about your maker's resolutions, share if you have one that you're really excited about in 2016! 

sewing stitches: fen dress

Pattern: Fen by Fancy Tiger Crafts, View B with optional pockets and sleeves

One of my first finished makes of 2016! Fen is a beginner's sewing pattern that has options for a top and a dress, long sleeves or short sleeves, rounded top or v-neck, so I knew I would get a lot of use out of purchasing this one pattern. A few weeks ago I got the help from some lovely women at Downtown Knits in Apex, NC and after much deliberation, picked out this beautiful chambray (because I definitely don't have enough chambray in my closet already). Being a beginning sewist, I wanted to make sure my lines looked sharp, but didn't pop too much, so a coordinating blue cotton thread was what I chose to sew with it. 

Sewing, unlike other crafts, is not something that has come particularly easy to me. My lines tend to be imprecise, and being a lefty, I never developed fantastic scissors skills, both of which are pretty essentials skills when garment sewing. Ha! After taking a full week to trace, cut, and sew this lovely garment, I'm convinced that I'm probably the slowest sewist out there. The pattern was very straightforward to trace and cut, however, and I'm sure someone with better skills or a more experienced hand would fly through these steps much more quickly. The sewing itself was fairly straightforward, the only real problem area being the binding around the neckline. I had a hard time visualizing exactly what I was supposed to be doing with it, and ended up improvising a bit. Amber from Fancy Tiger Crafts was very helpful in describing what the neckline was supposed to look like, and on my next Fen I think I'll be a lot more successful. 

Favorite parts of this dress are definitely the sleeves and pockets. The sleeves are a perfect 3/4 length and the pockets are super sturdy. I just love dresses with pockets! I was able to sew the skirt, pockets, sleeves and finish the dress all in one night, and was so encouraged by how easy the skirt was to make so professional and clean-looking. Not all of my lines were so lucky ;)

This is a dress I hope I'm going to get a LOT of wear out of, and I'm grateful to have finished it during the crazy snowstorm that left me stranded on the top of the hill at our house for the past few days. Spinning and knitting are re-commencing this week, with many fun and exciting projects ahead!

natural beauty

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my post this morning on a shop update coming up this evening at 6 PM EST. I'm excited to share these with the world and get them into your hands, and on your needles. 

The yarn on the left is a worsted weight, this lovely black, grey and white marl I carded and spun from 75% Rambouillet wool and 25% soft soft llama fiber. It's so gorgeous I almost didn't want to list it so I could keep it for myself! 

The middle yarn is really special because it comes from a farm in Pennsylvania that I purchased when I went to Rhinebeck, The Ross Farm. It's called their "Herd Blend", and is a gorgeous blend of cream and light brown fibers. It's a single ply, but it created a beautiful barberpole effect when it spun, as the core was light brown and the outside of the roving was cream. It's one of a kind and wonderful. 

The yarn on the right is so squishy and soft, a super bulky 100% Rambouillet which is both soft and strong. I loved it so much just off of the wheel, but it completely transformed and bloomed when I soaked it last week. I can't wait to see what it makes. It's a crazy thick and thin yarn but will hold up super well in knitting projects.

Right now I have a couple of other yarns in the shop as well that I love and would love to see make it into your hands, they'd be great for knitting, weaving or crochet. Go check them out and check out these new skeins this evening!

Happy shopping and happy knitting!

handspun: a treat

Over the weekend, I finished a new yarn from another sweet Christmas gift. It was such a treat to spin! The fiber is Hedgehog Fibres 50/50 merino & silk, a roving with these loud, beautiful colors that made for a gorgeous fractal 2-ply yarn. The finished skein is 480 yards light fingering weight, and this week as I have been spinning bulky weight yarn, it has felt so magnified because I went straight from a lace weight single plied together to a bulky singly ply! 

This yarn is absolutely destined for something lacy, the trick is finding a pattern that won't compete with these gorgeous color repeats and the patterning that goes with it. Perhaps a small Lori shawl? Or a delicate Teakettle? For now it is hung in my studio to admire while I'm stash-diving for more pressing projects. Lovely!

The world spins madly on

On Christmas day, my family gave me the most generous Christmas gift ever and I've been spinning like the world is going to end tomorrow ever since, I can't say enough good things about this wheel. Over the 10 days surrounding Christmas & New Years, we travelled from Charlotte, to Orlando, to Atlanta and back, and the Sidekick went everywhere with us, and was ready to spin in easily anywhere we took it. I can't get over how fast I'm moving through my fiber compared to the drop spindle, and I can't wait to put up new inventory in the shop for you so soon. 

In the meantime, though, I've been having a lot of fun with these beautiful, psychedelic braids I received as gifts this Christmas. My first finished project off the wheel (seen above) is this beautiful BFL from Three Waters Farm, about 135 yards of aran weight, in the Cafe Diem colorway. I love spinning BFL! It's so bouncy and elastic, and is a great spinning fiber for practicing drafting (if you're new, and need the practice!). I have another braid of this as well, and I'm debating whether to double my yardage for a more substantial project or do the second braid as a Navajo ply and preserve the beautiful color repeats. 

The second crazy colors I've been working through are in Hedgehog Fibre's 50/50 Merino & Silk top in colorway E. I'm hoping it'll come out to be a fingering weight 2 ply. It's incredibly soft and shiny, and the most silk I've worked with spinning. It's a bit slippery, but I like it. 

Overall, Melo is adjusting to his new position, and leaving plenty of cat hair behind in protest. ;)

If you're wondering, the new wheel is the Schacht Sidekick. After all of my research, watching hours of YouTube videos and finally trying a few wheels in person, I chose it because it had a lot of the features that I was excited about (lots of ratios, extra large bobbins compared to other models, Scotch tension), while still being a compact spinning wheel, made from high quality wood materials (not MDF) and made domestically in Boulder, CO. It's a sturdy little wheel that sits well on the floor, which I know is a complaint for other models of compact wheels, and I've heard, though I have not tried it, spins a lot like Schacht's high-end model, the Matchless. I just love it. If you have any other questions about how to choose a spinning wheel, please send me a message or comment below, or check out the blog post I put together with articles to help potential spinning wheel shoppers a few months ago, here. 

My vision for 2016 is to really take my fiber practice from sheep to skein, and to that end I've been ordering and perusing high quality American-grown fleeces to prepare into handspun yarns. If you know of any farms that I should check out, I'd love to hear about them!

Here's to resisting all of the leftover Christmas candy, and to keeping all of our resolutions!

the year in yarn

All of these images can be found on my Instagram!

It seems like the MOST cliche thing you could possibly say in a year end wrap up post, but I can't believe 2015 is over. It went by SO fast, and yet at the same time I can't believe that I made some of these things this year, not last year. One of the most special things about all of the things that I've created this year, they fit so seamlessly into my life, so comfortably into my wardrobe, it feels like I've had them forever.

More than ever, I've fallen in love with fiber arts this year. I knit my first sweater, started spinning my own yarn, started my handmade business, and really engaged in my local and virtual fiber friends. I finally found a knitting group that I love! I travelled to Asheville (twice!), returned to Rhinebeck, and knit so many beautiful pieces. I checked off all of the things on my Knit Years Resolutions for this year, which feels so good!

I get a little teary with gratefulness writing all of this out. I can definitely be hard on myself, choosing to see all the ways that I need to improve and grow, and don't spend too much time celebrating all the wonderful things that happen. And these were just the fiber-related things! This year the hubs and I also moved to a house, celebrated our first year of marriage, took trips all over the Southeast & Mexico, started the last year of medical school, passed the final part of medical board exams, and adopted our two sweet kitties who we can't imagine life without. 

This week is still a vacation week for me (hallelujah), and I'm really focusing and challenging myself with some big goals for 2016. So check back for that before the week is through. My family were so incredibly generous with me this Christmas, and I can't wait to get back to our house and set up all of the improvements to my studio/guest room! 

I hope everyone who reads this little blog of mine has had a wonderful holiday, full of love and family and hope. I'm blessed that you choose to spend some of your time here. 

two new yarns

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Florida playing too many board games, drinking too much tea, sitting on the porch too long and eating too many turkey green bean sandwiches. And While there, I was able to finish two yarns that will be in the shop very soon, I hope! 

The first is a 2-ply yarn spun from a pencil roving I purchased at Rhinebeck, a great heathery brown that would be wonderful for an outerwear, something warm and hearty for the cold months ahead. The pencil roving was the first I've spun with, and was very fast to draft, though perhaps not my favorite fiber I have spun. The large skein I got from this 4oz was so worth it!

This grey yarn was exactly what I wanted to be spinning over a break from my regular routine. Thick and thin and altogether an artful, freeform experience. It's a wonderful blend of several wools, including a beautiful merino. 

I love these handspun yarns and the process of creating them, I hope to list quite a few new skeins headed into this new year. 

Lots of blessings from Chapel Hill this season!

off the needles: sweet magnolia handspun

"Sweet Magnolia" by Susan Gehringer, narrow long cowl

Started: September 2015

Finished: October 23, 2015

Fiber: Aztec handspun

Notes: When I finished spinning this braid of BFL/Silk I just wanted to keep working with it, so I went and searched my Ravelry favorites for a short pattern that would fit with the yardage I got this time around. The Sweet Magnolia cowl had been in my list since it debuted last year, and the narrow, but longer version fit the bill. The stripes in the colorway came out beautifully with the length of the cowl, but I kind of feel that the beautiful pattern got a bit obscured by all the color changes. It was fun doing the picot hem and all in all, I think it will make a lovely gift this Christmas. Just make sure to read the pattern carefully! The different version starting points tripped me up a bit at first but wasn't ultimately hard to read. 

I feel like it has been forever since I've completed a knitting project, with lots of shop prep and spinning (both wonderful), so it felt so good to finish this. Only a few projects left before I take on the winter beast that is Timberline!