Cameron Michles is a fiber artist who creates fun one-of-a-kind knit and crochet pieces. Born and raised along the Gulf Coast, Michles spent her childhood in Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach. After high school, she moved to North Carolina to study psychology and theatre at Wake Forest University. While at college in 2021, Michles created A Good Stitch to share her knit and crochet pieces. Currently residing in NC, but visiting Pensacola often, Michles has plans to move back to Pensacola in the coming months before starting graduate school at Columbia in the fall. Check out Michles’ work at agoodstitch.org or @AGoodStitch on Instagram, where she also takes custom orders.
How did you get interested in creating, and what drew you to knitting and crochet?
My mom taught me how to knit many times growing up. Knitting finally stuck in my second year of undergrad. Around that time, I was also seeking help in managing my trichotillomania (trich), or hair-pulling disorder, which I have had for many years. After attempting many therapeutic techniques to help manage my trich, It wasn’t until I tried knitting again that I was finally able to make headway in managing my symptoms. Trich is a complex disorder that is often oversimplified or misconstrued as a behavior that exists as self-harm, when it is the opposite. People with trich repetitively pull their hair as a coping mechanism. So, something that is meant to be self-soothing, becomes a terribly difficult ‘habit’ to break. When I rediscovered knitting, I realized it was the perfect activity to help me manage my trich because it kept my hands and brain busy, and allowed me to channel destructive energy into something creative. I began by making hats so that I would have something to put on my head if my trich flared up. However, the rate at which I was making them quickly surpassed the number of hats one person could need, so I began brainstorming ways to share my creations. From this, A Good Stitch was born.
You donate 10% of your profits to the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors. Can you explain why this charity is so important to you?
From the very beginning, I wanted to donate to the TLC Foundation because of how interconnected knitting and trich are for me. The foundation provides resources and community to people like me who struggle with bodyfocused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), an umbrella term for disorders like trich. There aren’t cures for BFRBs—there are just ways of managing them. Knitting is a way that I found to minimize the grip that trich had on my life, but it doesn’t make the disorder go away. That’s why having a community and a constant source of togetherness is so important for something like this. The TLC Foundation is where I first found this sense of community.
Tell me about some of the different types of pieces you create.
I began making exclusively headwear, starting with beanies, and adding bucket hats, bandanas and headbands over time. Now, years later, I find that my absolute favorite thing to make is clothing. It’s a tricky thing to balance in terms of sharing my work with others, though. Since people are often pretty particular about clothing, this can make it hard to find the perfect home for the pieces I make, but it also makes it incredibly rewarding when someone clicks with a product. Making clothing is a patience game; sometimes a product immediately catches someone’s eye and it sells within a day, and other times it takes years before anyone picks it up. One thing I’ve learned through all of this, though, is that it is nearly impossible to predict what will sell, so I prioritize making what excites me and trusting that it will find its home eventually. Another one of my priorities is to have products for everyone. Knitwear and crochet items often lean towards a more feminine style, so I am always trying out new styles that are inclusive to everyone. That is one of my favorite things about the bags I make; they are one of the most universally appreciated items I sell.
Can you take me through your creative process and describe what goes into creating one of your pieces?
My creative process is freeform and changes depending on what I am making. Nearly all of my pieces are freehand, meaning I don’t follow a pattern or tutorial, so a lot of my process is trial and error. Knitting and crocheting is more about the process to me than the outcome, so I will often start a project based on what I feel like making in the moment—whether it be using a certain kind of yarn or working a certain type of stitch—then I decide what product I’m actually making as I go. The trade off of this is that I end up with a fair amount of pieces that I decide to undo and remake, but I never consider it wasted time. With every project that I start, whether or not I keep the finished product, I have a good time making it.
What are some of your most popular items, and is there currently a specific piece or design that you are receiving a lot of requests for?
My most popular items fluctuate over time, but currently, I am selling a lot of knit scrunchies. They are a crowd favorite and also happen to be one of my favorite things to make, so I often have a large stock of colors for people to choose from. Sometimes my bucket hats or tote bags will spike in popularity. The popularity of my pieces usually changes from market to market. Products also shift in popularity with the seasons, so sweaters and scarves are currently taking a back seat while my more summery designs are getting more attention.