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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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Celebrate Heart Month with Knitting & Crochet!

February 15, 2016 2 Comments

Learn how a simple donated baby hat can help save lives - click through for more information and three free patterns to get you started!

By now you’ve likely read or seen something from me about the American Heart Association’s Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign. In the few short years since the project’s inception, the AHA and volunteer knitters and crocheters have made thousands of red hats to help raise awareness about infant heart health and congenital heart defects. My family and friends have been touched by some of these issues, so every year, I do what I can to help drum up as many donations as possible.

Support the Little Hats, Big Hearts knitting program with a Well Wish! Click to learn how you can help this exceptional charity knitting program with more than knitting or crochet.
To avoid being too redundant, I’ll direct you to my blog posts featuring information about the campaign, and three free patterns that are perfect for donating to next year’s Little Hats, Big Hearts drive.

  • Baby Hearts Hat Pattern & My Family’s Story
  • Preemie Baby Hearts Hat Pattern
  • Little Hats, Big Hearts in the News
  • Declan’s Story & A Baby Pixie Hat Pattern
  • Help Support Little Hats, Big Hearts with a Well Wish

In addition to the patterns and updates, I recently wrote an article about the campaign in a feature article for this month’s issue of I Like Knitting magazine.* Here’s just a taste of the article:

We knitters tend to be a charitable group, and one excellent way we can give back this month, American Heart Month, is by knitting little red hats for newborns. The American Heart Association’s Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign sends newborns home from the hospital with red hats and some lifesaving information during the month of February. […]

To read the whole article, you’ll have to check out I Like Knitting magazine this month. If you already have a subscription, here’s direct link to the article. To learn more about the Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign, be sure to visit heart.org/littlehatsbighearts. The American Heart Association’s website lists donation information for all of the states currently participating in the program. We’d love to have you on board as a volunteer knitter! Just let me know in the comments if you have any questions about how to get involved. :)

Knit red hats to help raise awareness about preemie heart health with the free Declan Hat pattern!

*Conveniently and coincidentally, I Like Knitting magazine subscriptions are 43% off this week, from 2/15 to 2/21/16. I had already planned to share this blog post as a reminder of the campaign during Heart Month, but I thought the sale worth mentioning while I was on the topic of the magazine & article I wrote. This post is not sponsored, though there are affiliate links above.

Filed Under: Knitting & Crochet Tagged With: american heart association, baby heart hats, baby hearts, charity knitting, free pattern, heart month, little hats big hearts, red hats

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. Ruth

    February 27, 2016 at 4:59 pm

    Where is instructions for a doible crochet baby’s hat? Please send a link. Thanks

    Reply
    • Heidi

      March 3, 2016 at 6:21 pm

      If you visit heart.org/littlehatsbighearts and click on any one of the states, each page features a variety of hat patterns for knit, crochet or loom knitting.

      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, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
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knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
A new YouTube tutorial is live today covering how A new YouTube tutorial is live today covering how to knit the Little Butterfly Stitch (aka Bowknot Stitch). It adds so much cute character to simple stockinette. Only a little funky to knit, and it packs a huge visual punch! 🦋 
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Find the video & written stitch pattern on the blog and YouTube, links are in bio. 
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#kpambassadorsfeb21 #sponsored
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Yarn: @kelbournewoolens Germantown in Baby Blue via @knit_picks. Needles: Prism Interchangeables, also from Knit Picks. 
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Pictured: a light blue swatch of Little Butterfly Stitch knitting on a pink background. A skein of yarn and a few stitches of knitting are nearby.
“You’re telling me words can be pronounced in “You’re telling me words can be pronounced in different ways and mean the same things?!” 👀 Posting this here, just to make it clear: when anyone says skayne, skeen, or skyne, it can be safely assumed we’re talking about a bundle o’ yarn,  a SKEIN. It’s not necessary to shame someone for using a word that is known to have MULTIPLE common pronunciations. 🧶
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Can you plz comment sharing how you say SKEIN and where you learned it? The OED happens to say SKAYNE, but it’s not a personal attack if someone says SKEEN and you say SKYNE or even Saskatoon. I’m legitimately curious. We don’t all knit or crochet the same way, and craft evolves a bit like language - it is passed on. There is so much value in having conversations about & embracing these variations! ✌🏻
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Pictured: A blond woman holds a skein of mustard yellow yarn up to her head like a phone, looking shocked. She’s wearing glasses & a knit sweater. 
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#handsoccupied #heidigustad #skein #yarn #yarncraft #knit #crochet #yarnaddict #knitincolor #soldotnacrop #language #englishisweird #oed #oxfordenglishdictionary
Sometimes my weekend projects involve hair rather Sometimes my weekend projects involve hair rather than yarn. Here’s the latest mediocre-but-improving result of my slow quest to learn to set vintage inspired curls. 💇🏼‍♀️ I’m hoping to be able to wash my hair less using a regular vintage set, but we’ll see if it ends up being practical. 😆 Hair frustrates me so much more than crafts! 
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Do you also style your hair using vintage methods? If you have any tips for vintage hair styling or good resources to share, please do!
I suppose this is one way to decide what yarn colo I suppose this is one way to decide what yarn color suits your pooch. 😆 Navy really might be Woodrow‘s color - what do you think? 
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Pictured: A medium sized, brown, senior dog asleep on a green bed. For some reason a donut ball of navy wool yarn sits on his head.
The first stitch tutorial of the new year is live The first stitch tutorial of the new year is live on YouTube! Diamond Brocade is a great knit+purl only stitch for beginners or anyone wanting a classic look for their knitting project. Find the video with a written stitch pattern on the blog or head directly to the video on YouTube. Both are linked in bio. ✌🏻 
#kpambassadorsfeb21 #sponsored
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