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Hands Occupied

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

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Make the World Better with a Sweater! / Hands Occupied Sweater Party

November 12, 2014 4 Comments

Make the World Better with a Sweater - Hands Occupied Holiday Party | handsoccupied.com

One month from today, I’m partnering with one of my favorite local yarn shops, Nina, and Save the Children to help make the world better for kids this holiday season! And there’s going to be a Hands Occupied Sweater Party in the process! It turns out that Friday, December 12 is National Christmas Sweater Day, and Save the Children wants the world to wear a sweater (regular, festive, ugly or otherwise) and donate $5 to help fund their important work with kids around the world. I want to take that one step further by having a party that day to celebrate sweaters, the season, and raise money for a good cause. I think that we can easily raise $500 as a team, don’t you? Read on for more about Save the Children, the party, how to donate, and how to win some giveaway prizes for participating.

What is Save the Children?

Save the Children does some amazing work all over the world, including the United States. Recently, they have been very active in efforts to help stem the ebola crisis in Africa, doing things like supporting new orphans and being involved in boosting public awareness about the disease. They do a ton of advocacy and policy work to help create laws specifically designed to protect or help millions of children. As a person who works with teens in a lower income community, I can see how important organizations like Save the Children are. This personal connection to working with children is why I decided to support Save the Children this holiday season. Impressively, nearly 90% of their budget is actually spent on the programs and services they deliver (source: Charity Navigator). While some of their budget comes from grants, well over half comes directly from donations. And that’s where we’re going to try to help them out, and have a little fun at the same time!

How can you help?

The campaign we’ll be a part of is called Make the World Better with a Sweater. We’re knitters & crocheters here, we know how awesome sweaters are. SC wants to raise money to help fund their amazing work with kids. Also amazing. Here’s Save the Children’s and my pitch to you:

Make the World Better with a Sweater is a woolly wonderful way to do good and have fun this holiday season. How? You can agree to wear a festive holiday sweater on or around December 12, donate $5 or more to Save the Children and spread the holiday joy! Together, with sweaters, we can make the world a better place – transforming children’s lives and the future we all share.

This campaign alone is a great start, but I thought it would be fun to amp it up with a full on sweater party on Friday, December 12 at local yarn store Nina. You can come wearing the sweater you knit in the fall knit along that ends soon, you can knit a tiny sweater, you can come wearing your first-ever scarf, you can even come with just an awesome sweater you like to wear. Bring $5 or more to donate to Save the Children, and come ready to enjoy holiday snacks and a fashion show for those wanting to show of their knits. There will be an Instagram photo booth for those wanting to share their best knits online too. #HOsweaterparty might be in order, don’t you think?

I want to raise at least $500 for this cause. That means that just 100 people need to donate $5 to make it happen. Where can you donate right now? Here: http://www.savethechildren.org/SpreadtheJoy/handsoccupied. Even if you have friends or family who aren’t crafty who want to donate, they can donate there too. This is the kind of thing the phrase “the more the merrier” was invented for!

Party Details

What: A sweater & knitting-themed party & fundraiser hosted by yours truly, with 100% of all donations benefitting Save the Children

Where: Nina yarn shop in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood

When: Friday, December 12, 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.

What to bring: Yourself, a suggested $5+ donation, and a finished sweater or other knit or crochet object you’d like to share

What if I can’t make it to the party but want to donate? You can visit the donation page at http://www.savethechildren.org/SpreadtheJoy/handsoccupied and donate from anywhere in the world, any time!

There’s more! Giveaways to be exact!

Just in case the good cause, fun party and sweater action aren’t enough to get you excited about donating, Save the Children is giving away $50 to WEBS America’s Yarn Store as an added incentive. They just get more awesome the more you learn about them. To enter the giveaway, you can share your sweater spirit on Instagram using #HOsweaterparty and #sweater. You can also paste a link to where you donated online to enter as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you attend the Nina party, there’s going to be some fun giveaway action in person just for people attending the party!

I will not be compensated for this post or the party. The gift card giveaway is provided by Save the Children, and party giveaway items will be provided by Nina. 

Filed Under: Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored Tagged With: charity knitting, fundraisers, holiday giving, make the world better with a sweater, nina, save the children, yarn store

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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Comments

  1. Karen P

    November 12, 2014 at 12:18 pm

    You can count on me and hopefully many others from the Guild!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      November 12, 2014 at 12:39 pm

      Yay! Can’t wait! :D

      Reply
  2. may

    November 19, 2014 at 3:28 am

    Yay! Can’t wait!

    Reply

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    November 18, 2014 at 3:26 pm

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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

Helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010
🧶 Really into intarsia
Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop the latest patterns ⤵️

Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts
The first lesson of the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest K The first lesson of the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest Knit Along is now up on the bl0g! First thing’s first: better understanding gauge in intarsia, a.k.a. my most-requested intarsia tutorial topic. 🧶
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Maybe it isn’t the flashiest or funnest of topics, but knitting your patterns at gauge accomplishes 2 important things for projects like the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest. 1️⃣ Your garment will fit properly. 2️⃣ The intarsia you’ve worked hard to knit won’t look squished like an image in Print Wizard 2000. (Is that software reference too niche? 🖨️)
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Find the first #spiralhillsweatervest Knit Along lesson at the 🔗 in my profle. 
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P.S. I’m currently finishing editing a related video for the lesson, which will be live on You2ube later today/tomorrow. I’ll post in Stories when it’s up.👍🏻 
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#handsoccupied #intarsia #knittinggauge #knitting #sweaterknitting #nightmarebeforechristmasknittingbook #knitting_inspiration #stopswatchandblockit #swatching
This audio was me last summer while secretly desig This audio was me last summer while secretly designing the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest pattern behind the scenes. 😆 I very often design with primary colors, so trying to explain suddenly working with black, white and grey was awkward/kinda funny. 🩶
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In case you missed it, this is my design from the new book ‘Disney Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas: The Official Knitting Guide to Halloween Town and Christmas Town,’ available now from @insighteditions & @tanisknits. We’re doing a knit along starting very soon, and we’ll be knitting this pattern! I’ve got weekly video tutorials planned for this educationally-focused knit along. This KAL is especially for you if you’re eager to work on your intarsia. 🧶
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Full KAL details, yarn quantities & pattern information are available on my bl0g, the 🔗 is where you’d think. 
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Yarn: @brooklyntweed Imbue Worsted
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#nightmarebeforechristmasknittingbook #handsoccupied #spiralhillsweatervest #knitting #halloweenknitting #knitalong #kal #knitting_inspiration #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #learntoknit
Wow! I am floored by the awesome response to the S Wow! I am floored by the awesome response to the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest. Thank you. 🙏🏻❤️ If you love this pattern & didn’t know already, we are going to be doing a knit along (KAL) from October 1-29 featuring this spooky sweater vest & lots of tutorials, especially for the intarsia part. 
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Later today my newsletter will be coming out with additional Knit Along details, so if you’re not already signed up, now is a great time - the 🔗 is in my b1o. 
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Pictured: My Spiral Hill Sweater Vest pattern from the new Nightmare Before Christmas knitting book by @tanisknits. Model is wearing size 1 with 2” of positive ease, knit in @brooklyntweed Imbue Worsted. Vest images via @insighteditions 
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#spiralhillsweatervest #handsoccupied #nightmarebeforechristmasknittingbook
At long last! I can share the Spiral Hill Sweater At long last! I can share the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest, my contribution to the new book Disney Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas: The Official Knitting Guide to Halloween Town and Christmas Town, out now! 🎃💀 
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I’m hosting a knit along (KAL) October 1-29 for anyone who’d like to knit this vest along with a group & learn a little about intarsia while we’re at it. I’ve got weekly tutorials planned to help you knit this worsted weight sweater vest, and there’s a prize package giveaway at the end for KAL participants too. Details are on my site - you know where to find the 🔗 I think. 😉
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Book by @tanisknits 
Publisher @insighteditions 
Yarn @brooklyntweed Imbue 
Find it wherever fine books are sold. 
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#handsoccupied #nightmarebeforechristmas #intarsia #sweatervest #knittingpattern #knittingbook #spiralhill #knitting_inspiration #knitting
Since there was some interest in stills of my WIPs Since there was some interest in stills of my WIPs closet after this weekend’s quick tutorial, here are few. ✂️ The tutorial is one post back in my feed as a video.
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As you can see, I didn’t worry about the wire hangers all being perfectly uniform, but it doesn’t matter to me. Also, this closet holds a lot! Despite that, it is already at capacity. Since the hanging bags don’t appear to be recyclable, I want to reuse them as long as possible. Who knows, maybe this will be a way to limit my WIPs? 😅
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P.s. In the third photo you can see how I use this system to store the original swatches, scraps, yarn ball bands, & notes from a design project all together. 
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#handsoccupied #wips #craftstorage #yarnstorage #yarncrafts #knitting_inspiration #craftstudio #craftroom #craftcloset
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