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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.

taco sweater: Joseph at London Fashion Week Fall 2016
taco sweater: Joseph at London Fashion Week Fall 2016
Cloud sweater from a handbag marketing campaign, found via pinterest
cloud sweater from a handbag marketing campaign
puff sleeve sweater: alice & olivia
puff sleeve sweater: alice & olivia

Mood boards & how they’re used in the knit design world

When a designer submits to a design call for a book or magazine, we are often given two pieces of guidance: a short design brief describing the goals for the pattern collection, and a mood board. Mood boards sound kind of fancy-schmance, but they’re really just a collage of inspiring images, pattern silhouettes, color palettes, etc. These are often either photoshopped together in a PDF or gathered into a sometimes-private Pinterest board you must request to see. The goal? Inspire a bunch of designers (often folks who will never meet, which is so weird!) to design patterns that “go” together in an intentional way.

Since I’m used to drawing inspiration so often from mood boards, I thought it might be helpful to apply that approach to my work for the year. For a few months, I’ve been saving inspiring images, and now that I’ve been able to take a step back, the images in this post should help give you idea of the vibe for Hands Occupied’s 2022 knitting designs. 😊 Let me know which of these cute garments is your favorite!

inside out nordic star sweater: Isabel Marant Fall 2018 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show Collection
inside out nordic star sweater: Isabel Marant Fall 2018 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show Collection
alphabet sweater: misha & puff
alphabet sweater: misha & puff
yellow ruffle knit vest: cider
yellow ruffle knit vest: cider

Sources
taco sweater: Joseph at London Fashion Week Fall 2016 / cloud sweater / puff sleeve sweater: alice & olivia / inside out nordic star sweater: Isabel Marant Fall 2018 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show Collection / alphabet sweater: misha & puff / yellow ruffle knit vest: cider / heart pullover: madewell / wallace tartan pullover: free vintage knitting pattern / knit swimsuit: Swimsuit, 1928 by Ukrainian-born French artist and designer Sonia Delaunay

heart pullover sweater by madewell
heart pullover: madewell
wallace tartan pullover: free vintage knitting pattern
wallace tartan pullover: free vintage knitting pattern
knit swimsuit: Swimsuit, 1928 by Ukrainian-born French artist and designer Sonia Delaunay
knit swimsuit: Swimsuit, 1928 by Ukrainian-born French artist and designer Sonia Delaunay

Filed Under: Inspiration, Knitting Tagged With: knit design, knitting inspiration, knitting mood board, mood board

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Comments

  1. Choc

    February 23, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    Heart pullover

    Reply
  2. Choc

    February 23, 2022 at 11:31 pm

    Choosing only one was hard.

    Reply
    • Heidi

      February 24, 2022 at 1:19 pm

      I love the 2-color situation on that one!

      Reply
  3. Laura

    February 24, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    The ruffled vest is screaming “knit me!”

    Reply
    • Heidi

      February 24, 2022 at 1:21 pm

      That’s good to hear! Puffs and ruffs keep calling my name this year.

      Reply

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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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Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhoo Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhood while I shot a new crochet tutorial today. With any luck, editing will go smoothly & I’ll be posting new videos to YouTube regularly soon! Got any requests for tutorial topics? 
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This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t you think? ❤️💛💙
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Pattern: modified #soldotnacrop sweater / yarn: various from my stash
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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