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Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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2022 Mood Board / What is a mood board in knitting?

February 23, 2022 5 Comments

Hands Occupied's 2022 knitting mood board. | A collage of inspiration for modern knitting, with text reading, "Mood Board Knitting / 2022"
images via sources below

One of the coolest things about being a pattern designer, whether in the knitting & crochet world or otherwise, is gathering inspiration. I personally am a huge fan of following blogs and using Pinterest to catalog things I find inspiring (private boards are especially useful for working on secret design projects). Gathering inspiration together like this helps me to zoom out of my anxious everyday brain and find what’s consistently inspiring me. It helps me see the forest instead of the trees… squirrels… leaves…. haunted witchy cottage… you see what I mean.

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Heidi (Hands Occupied) reacts in horror to the time.

It’s 2022 already?

February 9, 2022

An update about what’s next from Hands Occupied!

The Magic Carpet Throw Blanket by Heidi Gustad can be found in the new Knitting with Disney book by Tanis Gray! (Insight editions, 2021)

Knitting with Disney… and Me!

October 20, 2021

The Magic Carpet Throw Blanket by Heidi Gustad can be found in the new Knitting with Disney book by Tanis Gray! (Insight editions, 2021)

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied holds up a pair of wooden knitting needles. She's wearing a t-shirt that reads "Midwest Crafter."

Hands Occupied, 11 years on 😳

September 16, 2021

A look back on 11 years of Hands Occupied, and a look ahead at what’s to come.

High Desert Yarn Review & Giveaway

April 21, 2021

New yarn alert! Knit Picks High Desert is available in a range of jewel tone colors & two weights. Take a closer look & enter to win FOUR skeins of this versatile yarn that’s 100% American from sheep to skein.

There’s a new series on the Hands Occupied YouTube channel called Design Diaries. In these videos, I walk you through the process of making original craft project designs from scratch. The first episode features something professional wrestling fans will recognize as a punch needle take on the WWE's Universal Championship title belt.

Yarniversal Championship Belt Design Diary & A New YouTube Series

April 16, 2021

Let’s take a look at how my recent obsession with professional wrestling resulted in a wooly reimagining of the WWE’s Universal Championship title belt, just in time for Wrestlemania. I share how I took this project from a grief-induced grain of inspiration and crafted a fully functional belt combining basic embroidery and punch needle rug hooking.

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hands occupied on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7XHA1h18I

Free Patterns

A free crochet pattern & tutorial for granny square throw pillows!

Granny Throw Pillows

Knit an adorable cable knit beanie for winter with this free pattern.

Winter Cable Knit Beanie

A cute pattern for a knit gift box ornament for the holidays! Click through for the free pattern.

Knit Gift Box Ornament – 12 Ornaments of Christmas

Knit or crochet some adorable ornaments to trim your tree! Get your hands on 12 free knit and crochet patterns for Christmas ornaments. Each ornament doubles as a great gift topper & stocking stuffer!

Wrapping Up the 12 Ornaments of Christmas

Red Hats for Newborns Pattern at handsoccupied.com

Red Hats for Newborns + A Free Pattern

Get a free crochet pattern for a baby hat featuring an adorable heart appliqué, and learn how to you can crochet to help save babies' lives!

Heart Appliqué Hat – Free Baby Crochet Pattern

Easy DIY touch screen gloves made with conductive yarn thimbles! Click through for the free knitting and crochet patterns, plus a tutorial on how to assemble your gloves.

Easy DIY Touchscreen Gloves

Crochet T-shirt Yarn Tote Pattern at HandsOccupied.com

Crochet T-shirt Yarn Tote

More Free Patterns →

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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handsoccupied

Yarn craft designer & author. Into intarsia knits, latch hook, color & vintage-modern style.
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👇🏻 Book, Patterns, Tutorials

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually k If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually knitting from one sweater into another here, no big deal. (What can I say, I lost a game of yarn chicken. 😂) I almost didn’t post this because I was worried someone might have some nonsense to say about my ability to knit. Then I remembered I can’t care about that. Silly me, I almost forgot myself! 
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Speaking of which, dang it’s good to have my mental health back consistently after the past couple of years. The anxious parts of my personality are just chilling, rather than constantly screaming that my work isn’t good enough to share. The confident parts of me that matter have me creating (and starting to share my creations & process with strangers and friends) again! 
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Anybody else feel like they are beginning to return to themselves, so to speak, this spring?
I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] proj I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] project needs is a couple of short sleeves! I’ll be finishing this sweater *just* before it gets too warm to wear, but isn’t that always how it goes? 🫠🧶 
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#knittersofinstagram #soldotnacrop #handsoccupied #knitincolor #springknitting
Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, wh Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, which has unsurprisingly turned into a love letter to primary colors. ❤️💛💙 The heart stripe is a wee tweak I incorporated, and I don’t regret it! 
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 #handsoccupied #soldotnacrop #strandedcolorwork #knitting #yokesweater
I am unfortunately home bound for the near future I am unfortunately home bound for the near future thanks to the big, bad bug. So far I’ve knit half a sweater, consumed about a gallon of ginger tea, & plowed through 3 seasons of Pit Bulls and Parolees. 
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June doesn’t understand why I’m suddenly so boring, but she seems to like watching animal planet. 🤷🏼‍♀️
A bit of Saturday swatching. 🧶 I am working in A bit of Saturday swatching. 🧶 I am working in greyscale today to practice designing “without color”. Kinda cool, kinda weird. We’ll see if it yields anything interesting! 😆
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#intarsia #intarsiaknitting #stopswatchandblockit #handsoccupied #knittersofinstagram
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