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Hands Occupied

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

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Over the River

December 24, 2012 Leave a Comment

My parents live on a river, the Red River to be exact. For our journey to my hometown of Fargo this year, we drove through a few plains states immediately after they were hit by a fairly significant blizzard. With our small sedan packed with winter survival gear for two humans and two dogs, as well as our clothes and Christmas gifts, it was a wintry high plains adventure from Chicago to Fargo this week.

Over the River | HandsOccupied.com

We saw many beautiful snow-saturated trees, as well as over a dozen abandoned semi trucks, most of which were jackknifed from slipping off of I-94 in the storm. Some were pretty mangled, and I’m very glad we were NOT attempting to drive in the previous night’s terrible weather.

Speaking of Storm (and Woodrow, our dogs), they appeared to have the most boring day in the life of a dog. Or at least their eyes told me so as we drove for about 13 straight hours.

Over the River | HandsOccupied.com

Over the River | HandsOccupied.com

The drive gave the husband and I lots of time to hash out the finer details of winter driving, blizzards, and how irrational my ideas about living on a cute, weathered farm on the side of the interstate are.

Over the River | HandsOccupied.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: christmas, dogs, fargo, semi trucks, travel

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. 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), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

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Latch Hook by Heidi Gustad

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handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer helping makers untangle various techniques with a blog & YouTube channel
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Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts
Happy with how the mini Nightmare Before Christmas Happy with how the mini Nightmare Before Christmas sweater vest turned out! Now my dog and I can go on walks in matching seasonal fits 😂
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1. I knit this bottom up with scraps and ran out of black yarn. If the vest consistently drifts down her chest upon wear, I might extend the collar or redo the chest panel at a smaller size. If you’ve read this far, what do you think? As a designer, I so rarely get to improvise a knitting project, and I’m having fun working with fewer rules than usual. 🧶
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2. June has a grooming appointment this weekend. She’s currently the mayor of scruff town, I know. 🫡
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Pattern: Chart is from the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest pattern by yours truly in the official Nightmare Before Christmas knitting book 
Yarn: @brooklyntweed Imbue Worsted
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#spiralhillsweatervest #spiralhillsweatervestkal #handsoccupied #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #nightmarebeforechristmasknittingbook #dogknit #knitsfordogs #handmade #brooklyntweed
I finished June’s doggie version of the Spiral H I finished June’s doggie version of the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest & it’s so cute! 🥰
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Do you think June appreciates the fact that she now has a sweater made with @brooklyntweed yarn? 😂 
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#handsoccupied #dogsweater #dogjumper #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #spiralhillsweatervest #spiralhillsweatervestkal #handmade #brooklyntweedimbue #brooklyntweed
Squeezing in some stitching on a selfish sweater t Squeezing in some stitching on a selfish sweater this Saturday morning 😋
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Pattern: Fruit Stripe Pullover with some intarsia mods on the front panel 
Designed by Rachel Brockman for @universal_yarn 
Yarn: Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Dragon’s Breath & Antarctica 🧶
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#handsoccupied #knitting #weekendknitting #sweaterknitting #universalyarn #fibranaturacobblestone
As a yarn craft designer and former librarian, rev As a yarn craft designer and former librarian, review copies of craft books get sent my way from time to time. It's awesome, but I'm always looking for new, quick ways to share them with you. Today's experiment: a mini review of the new crochet book Hooked on Shakespeare: Crochet Projects Inspired by the Bard. A review copy was provided by the publisher. 
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Book: Hooked on Shakespeare by Gurinder Kaur Hatchard  @yay_for_crochet 
Publisher: @herbert.press / @bloomsburybooksus 
Number of projects: 15
Hardcover, 128 pages
Retail price $22/£14.99
Uses UK crochet terms, not US. My copy came with a conversion table (pictured).
Good for: literary enthusiasts, amigurumi crocheters
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Overall, this is a really cute book that would make a wonderful gift. Each of the 15 Shakespearean works covered features patterns for a few characters from the story. The styled photography is fantastic, with whimsical backgrounds highlighting each pattern. Includes some step-by-step instructions with photos and how to crochet tutorials at the back. I'm highly on board with the name of the last pattern in the book, "Wooliam Shakespeare". 👏🏻 
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If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I'm always trying to figure out the best way to share these new titles, and this is a first try at a new format. So if you have any feedback (if I should include more/less detail, more photos, video, etc.), please let me know. 
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#handsoccupied #bookreview #craftbook #craftbooks #crochet #crochetbook #crochetersofinstagram #crochetinspiration
New post & video tutorial are live! How to weave i New post & video tutorial are live! How to weave in intarsia ends, including avoiding holes at joins, how many ends to weave in one spot, when to use duplicate stitch, and more. Everything is on the bl0g, the 🔗 is where you’d think. 
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P.S. I feel like this video took forever to edit, so thanks for your patience as I worried too much over small details. 😜
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#handsoccupied #intarsia #howtoknitintarsia #intarsiaknitting #pictureknitting #weavinginends #knitter #spiralhillsweatervest #spiralhillsweatervestkal
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