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Hands Occupied

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

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A Farewell to the Studio Space, but Not Hands Occupied

November 18, 2022 Leave a Comment

A blond woman packing several boxes.
As I taped up the last of my studio boxes, I thought I’d be remiss not to document the end of a space where I shot so many photos, including my book. 👍🏻

Hi everyone! It’s been 3 months since my last post, but that’s okay. It’s been a season of a lot of unanticipated change. At a time when I’d been planning on releasing my first collection (more on that in a moment), my husband and I ended up buying and moving into our first home. Before mid-August we had no plans to do so. 😅 Things moved quickly, but we feel very lucky!

Two days before a truck was booked to move our stuff to our new house, I got a call from the landlord at my studio space for Hands Occupied. They informed me that the studio rental spaces weren’t working out as planned, and someone will be taking over Startwork Studios, as they’re called, soon. All tenants had to be out by December 1. Lucky again, I was already moving to a house with a room earmarked for my studio space. Unsurprisingly, few of my fellow renters were coincidentally moving their studios, and especially not during the holiday sales season. There was even an article in Block Club Chicago about the situation. 

For me, this means I’m going to go ahead and officially tap out on 2022 in terms of output for Hands Occupied. I was already struggling from having to move my studio back in February within the studio spaces – studio 1 to studio 6 after a recurring ceiling leak. These studio spaces were the only affordable place I could find in my part of Chicago, so I rolled the dice on a recently-vacated space that didn’t appear to have a history of leaks. I made do as makers do, and all I can do is shake my head and move on.

The Rest of 2022

Speaking of making do and moving on, I don’t plan on abandoning my collection or other projects I’ve got in the queue, but for the rest of 2022, I’m taking the space I need to decompress from the bizarre, discouraging experience that became the studio space. As I unpack my studio again, I’ll focus on the amazing times we had in the Hands Occupied Studio during weekly Craft Nights when that was still possible in 2019-2020, rather than the awkward ending of the space. 

Take a look inside the new Hands Occupied Studio in Chicago, learn about when it's open to the public, and share your ideas for workshops and events you'd like to see in the new space! #handsoccupiedstudio
Some of the smiling faces who came to the Hands Occupied Studio warming in February of 2019. ❤️

I want to spend this holiday season enjoying being a “regular maker.” I want to make felt Christmas stockings for my family to celebrate moving into our first house. I want to work on my cooking a little. I want to be able to catch up on knitting for me. So that’s what I’m going to do! I’ll keep up with comments and messages at least 1-2 times a week in case you’ve got holiday knitting questions, and I might share tidbits, particularly the stockings since they’re crafty. But this year I’m just going to let myself be in the moment during the holidays. Again, I’m lucky. 

Happy Holidays,

Heidi

Heidi at work in the first Hands Occupied Studio.
Working in Studio 1.
Heidi (Hands Occupied) answers the phone with skepticism.
One of the few shots I have from Studio 6.
Heidi shoots a picture of the Hands Occupied Studio window decal from the inside. You can see her reflection in the glass.
It will always be pretty cool that I had a studio window. :)

Filed Under: Hands Occupied Studio Tagged With: hands occupied studio, home studio, moving, studio

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author, designer & creator specializing in yarn crafts like knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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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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Helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010
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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts
It’s time for the monthly review and giveaway! T It’s time for the monthly review and giveaway! This go around, get to know two new sister yarns from @manosyarnsusa, Marla and Sami, and enter to win a skein of each to try for yourself. 
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What makes these yarns sisters is that, while dyed differently, they’re the same weight and come in intentionally coordinating color palettes. For my review, I opted for a sky-inspired combo of Sami in Natural and Marla in Nube. 🌧️ 
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Check out the full review & enter the giveaway at the link in my bio. 
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#handsoccupied #yarnreview #manosdeluruguay #knitting_inspire #crochet #yarngiveaway #knitters #yarn #crochetersofinstagram
If only knitting a whole project took 39 seconds… 😮‍💨 
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In this video, you can see how the Intarsia Flower Pillow pattern knits up - two flat panels, one with intarsia, both are blocked, and then they’re seamed. Find the pattern on @hi.ravelry & my website, just search Intarsia Flower Pillow. 🌸 
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P.S. I’m really smiling in this video while seaming the pillow, so I guess I’m proving last week’s claim that I truly enjoy that sometimes-dreaded task. 😆🫣
In knitting, a Left Lifted Increase (LLI) lets you In knitting, a Left Lifted Increase (LLI) lets you add a stitch in between two columns of stitches that leans to the left. Similar to an M1L, LLIs allow you to increase nearly invisibly.
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To learn more about lifted increases, including when to use them and how they differ from Make 1s, head to the 🔗 in my profle. 
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Have you ever used lifted increases? I used M1’s almost exclusively for a long time when I needed to inc between stitches, but when I designed the Intarsia Flower Pillow pattern, I needed something that would allow me to increase a lot near my cast on, and M1’s resulted in edge curling. The more you know! 🌈 
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Yarn: @lionbrandyarn Wool Ease from my Stash / Neddles: @boyeyarncrafts - Just remembered these are the needles I learned to knit on at age 8. 😂
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#handsoccupied #knitting #learntoknit #howtoknit #sweaterknitting #knitinspiration #knittersofinstagram #liftedincreases
Last week I got to hang out with my family & helpe Last week I got to hang out with my family & helped babysit my red-headed niece and nephew. So here’s some plane knitting, and a couple pictures (shared with permission) of my babysitting adventures.
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Lessons learned: 1️⃣ Trying to knit around 2 toddlers, 2 cats & 2 large dogs is pretty hard. 2️⃣ I learned during water color time that pink and black make “colorful black.” 🩷🖤 3️⃣ Toddlers do NOT care about your rainbow sorting of their toys. 4️⃣ Toddlers are very good at finding mischief in a very short amount of time, what a surprise. 😂
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#handsoccupied #knitting #placesyoucanknit #knitters #knitinpublic #handmadelife #knitting_inspiration
Weaving in ends & seaming with mattress stitch are Weaving in ends & seaming with mattress stitch are both so useful for garment knitting! But for me, weaving in ends can feel like a chore while the latter feels like I’ve successfully done magic. 🧙🏻‍♀️ Does anybody else run into this phenomenon? Are you the opposite? Any theories as to why they feel different? 
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In this video, I’m finishing my brand new Intarsia Flower Pillow. 🌸 I’m working with @universal_yarn Uni Merino & the pattern is available at the 🔗 in my b1o. 
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#handsoccupied #intarsiaflowerpillow #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #knitting #colorwork #knitpillow #knittinginspiration #knittersofinstagram
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