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

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My Family’s Crafts: Giant Deer Embroidery

September 8, 2011 1 Comment

For this week’s installment of My Family’s Crafts, I wanted to share something by my paternal grandmother. For those of you who missed weeks one and two of the series:

I come from a family that includes woodworkers, wine-makers, knitters, crocheters, quilters, embroiderers, cooks, farmers, gardeners, bakers and I’m sure more. None of them crafted for a living. They always used these talents as a creative outlet, a way to pass the time, or even a way to save money.

My grandma embroidered this and gave it to my dad for a Christmas present when he was in college, ca. 1978. My dad tells me this was around the time he and his father (the wood worker) were really in to bow hunting for deer. As in, use a bow and arrow to shoot your deer rather than a gun.

I talked to my grandma this week about this project. First of all, it took her about 2-3 months to complete. This was around the time she had stopped helping my grandpa in the field on their farm, and since my dad and his sister were in college, she had more time to work on projects like these. My grandma always has “something laying around” to work on when she gets the chance.

My grandma explained that she used to get farming catalogs that included patterns she could order. She would get her patterns in the mail and use an iron to transfer it to the fabric of her choice. Isn’t that cool? I’m so glad I got to talk to her about this project. She said she’s got a few other projects like these that she said she might be able to find. I’m crossing my fingers!

My grandpa made the frame from some wood that was likely once an old farm building of some kind. The weathering of the wood is thanks to decades of harsh Minnesota winters. This type of wood is called barn board.

Turning the picture over, you can see that the embroidery was mounted using thumb tacks and nails, and an old piece of wire was used to hang the picture.

Until my brother recently moved away for college, this picture had been hanging in his bedroom. Now, it hangs in my craft room, reminding me that I need to have my grandma teach me to embroider some day soon.

—

I drafted this post over the weekend, but it looks like one of the Craft contributors and I are on the same wavelength this week. Yesterday, they posted Preserving Vintage Embroidery Patterns, which included a picture of a transfer not unlike the ones my grandma described:

Filed Under: Vintage Crafts Tagged With: embroidery, farm catalog, mid-century crafts, my family's crafts, sewing patterns, sewing transfer

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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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

Craft book author & pattern designer ❤️💛💙
knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé
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Please email for pattern support. 🧶

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn, you immediately think sweater, right? 
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My wardrobe could use another handmade sweater - I’m thinking something simple, seamed and with a decent amount of ease for potentially wearing tucked in with jeans or skirts. 🤔 
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Yarn: @universal_yarn Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Antarctica and Dragon’s Breath, wound in thick skeins of 100% superwash wool that’s a light DK weight.
How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style . How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style 
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In knitting, there are a few common knitting styles. Most often you’re going to encounter continental style and English (throwing) style on your knitting journey. I recently had an old video teaching continental style get a lot of views. Based on the comments, it was clear the people wanted to also see a throwing tutorial, so here you go! 🧶
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Please note that there is a LOT of variation in knitting styles, and one isn’t necessarily better than another. Most often, I’ve found it comes down to two things: how you were taught and whether or not you’re really into colorwork knitting (which can involve a mix of styles). 
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Longer-term knitters who’ve made it this far: do you prefer one over the other? And why? 
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#handsoccupied #englishknitting #learntoknit #knitting #howtoknit #knittersofinstagram #knitting_inspiration
How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on / a.k.a. crochet provisional cast on, scrap yarn cast on
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I read recently that tiktok and Instagram are being used as search engines more and more. 🤔 I thought since I’m going to all the work of making tutorials on YouTube, I should experiment with making a quick version of them for other platforms. There are obvious teaching limitations to vertical video, short-form content like this, but I think I covered the gist of this cast on in a minute. The YouTube version also covers how to unzip this cast on because there was time for it 👍🏻 L1nk is in my profile. 
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I’m very much looking for feedback as I continue to make instructional knitting & craft videos. Sometimes good tutorials are hard to find, and (ideally polite) feedback helps me improve. 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #knititngtutorial #knittersofinstagram #crochethook #knittingtutorial
For the first time in a long time, there’s a new For the first time in a long time, there’s a new tutorial from Hands Occupied! 🎉 The video is live on YouTube & the blog. 
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The post covers what provisional cast ons are & how they differ, and the video covers how to work a one-step provisional cast on using scrap yarn and a crochet hook. (This is a great one to save for future reference.)
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I learned several names for this method while researching this video & post. Crochet provisional cast on, one-step cast on, scrap yarn cast on - if you know even more names for this technique, please share! 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #scrapyarn #crochethook
Working on a sample for some upcoming videos. It’s an overcast day with intermittent sunshine & I have a scruffy little sidecar. 🐶 Can’t complain! 
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What’s on your needles this week? 
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Yarn: @debbieblissknits Cashmerino Aran 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #knittinglife
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