• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

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

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Studio
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

New in the Shop: Exclusive Enamel Pins!

September 25, 2020 2 Comments

A custom collab between Taaja Tucker and Hands Occupied, inspired by the knitting community.

As promised earlier this week, I’ve been busy updating a bunch of things behind the scenes, including the Hands Occupied Shop. Most importantly is my first foray into merch! I worked with an illustrator friend to develop two adorable enamel pin designs inspired by the knitting community. Both of these are perfect for gifting to your knit night bestie or treating yourself!

Find the pins in the Shop: Rip it! Enamel Pin / Fiber Friends Enamel Pin

A custom collab between Taaja Tucker and Hands Occupied, inspired by the knitting community.

About the pins

Fiber Friends

This adorable pin measures approximately 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches. The original design by Taaja Tucker features five of the most-loved fiber producing animals (sheep, rabbit, goat, alpaca, & yak) hanging out together behind a red banner reading “fiber friends.”

A custom collab between Taaja Tucker and Hands Occupied, inspired by the knitting community.
Find Fiber Friends pins in the Shop

Rip It!

Also clocking in at 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches, this funny pin again features original artwork by Taaja Tucker. This pin depicts a frog smiling and tearing out its red knitting. The words “rip it!” are in the foreground because in the knit and crochet community, frogging is the term we use for tearing back out work to fix a mistake, often very far back. Frogs ribbit, so… RIP IT! 

A custom collab between Taaja Tucker and Hands Occupied, inspired by the knitting community.
Nab a Rip it! pin in the Shop

Working with Taaja Tucker

Taaja Tucker is the name of the biologist and artist I collaborated with on these first 2 enamel pin designs. Personally, I’m a crafter and a fiber artist – not an illustrator. Enter Taaja, who I’ve known since college & who also designed my old band’s merchandise (pictured below!). 15 years after college, we collaborated again on merch for an indie project. I feel like working with a friend is the kind of good vibes I needed for adding physical objects to the Hands Occupied Shop, you know?

Taaja’s website / @tinywaterbear on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

This is what happens when you combine listening to the new episode of @seriouscrafts and trying to take a mirror selfie to show off the day’s handmade wardrobe element. (The new episode is seriously pretty funny!) . The shirt was for my college band, Falcorps (as in Falcor Luckdragon, yes). I screen printed our sweet merch using thrift store t-shirts and @speedball_art supplies in my dorm laundry room. 😆 Shout out to @tinywaterbear’s epic shirt design, & former bandmates @shuttershop @haunted_neighborhoods @mike_lala @mccuneza, etc. 🥰

A post shared by Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️ (@handsoccupied) on Jul 30, 2019 at 9:39pm PDT

Fun fact: these have literally been years in the making!

These pins were actually designed in early 2018. I wasn’t sure pins would be the right move for Hands Occupied at the time, but Taaja had already finished the Fiber Friends & Rip It designs. Luckily I was in love with the designs, so I kept them in my back pocket just in case! When WizardPins reached out about working together on a pins project, I was ready to go! Getting the project rolling was so simple. Shout out to WizardPins for making my enamel pin dreams come true!

A custom collab between Taaja Tucker and Hands Occupied, inspired by the knitting community.

Congratulations! If you’ve read this far, I appreciate it! Use code FREESHIP in the Shop to get, you guessed it, free shipping on orders through 10/1/20.

Filed Under: Pattern Shop Tagged With: enamel pins, fiber friends, rip it, taaja tucker

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!

Previous Post: « Happy 10th Birthday, Hands Occupied!
Next Post: The New Hands Occupied YouTube Channel is Live! »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • How to knit a raglan decrease / Knit Along Day 5How to knit a raglan decrease / Knit Along Day 5
  • Picks of the WeekPicks of the Week
  • How-to: Make a Light BoxHow-to: Make a Light Box
  • The Chicken & the EggThe Chicken & the Egg

DON’T MISS ANOTHER UPDATE

Comments

  1. Bonnie

    September 25, 2020 at 11:01 am

    Hey there! Love the pin designs. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see a link to the actual product page in this post. (I ended up finding it via your shop link and ordered a frog pin, but wanted to mention it since I was confused for a bit.)

    Reply
    • Heidi

      September 25, 2020 at 12:32 pm

      Thanks, Bonnie! I just added prominent link to them near the top of the post – can you tell I’m used to marketing just patterns? ;) Appreciate the feedback, it really helps me out! -Heidi

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

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.

work with heidi

UPDATES BY EMAIL

Get a free pattern + biweekly updates sent to your inbox.

Let’s be friends!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi Gustad

Footer

INSTAGRAM

handsoccupied

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

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s c Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s coincidentally International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day today, so I’d be remiss not to share a first look at this project finished JUST in time to wear while I watch some rasslin’ on a pirate ship in a football stadium in Tampa! 💪🏻 I’m excited to watch tonight’s women’s matches the most. Eee!
.
.
Pictured: A blond woman in a denim dress and glasses wearing a giant belt made with punch needle. The belt is made with wool in primary colors and was inspired by the WWE Universal Championship title belt. 
.
This is just a preview - after jab 2.0 tomorrow (feeling grateful 🙏🏼), I’ll be editing together a vlog about the design process for this wooly waist cover. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make some of your wilder craft ideas come to life. Stuff you’ll never find a pattern for, you know? I’ll finish editing that ASAP, but I might take a few days to edit if I feel like trash from 💉 and only want to watch wrestling and wrestling YouTube for a day or two. 😂
.
.
#ipnrhd #punchneedle #wwe #wrestling #championshipbelt #wool #yarn #handmade #universalchampionship #universalchampion #rugmaking #wrestlingfan #wrestlemania37 #wrestlemania
A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-ins A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-inspired punch needle project! It’s interesting to see how fuzzy the handspun beige yarn is compared with the primary color sections of @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. ❤️💛💙🤎 
.
Pictured: The back of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool sits on the work.
.
#punchneedle #woolrug #rugmaking  #kpambassadorsapr21 #sponsored #griefproject #handsoccupied #wrestlingfan #universalchampion #yarn #yarncraft #wool #needlepunch
Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishin Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishing up the punch needling part of this crazy @wwe inspired project by tonight. 💪🏻🧶 Anybody else have crafty plans for this fine spring day? 
.
Pictured: A blond woman sits, smiling and holding an in-progress punch needle project inspired by the Universal Championship belt. Houseplants are in the background and there’s lots of sun. 
.
#punchneedle #griefproject #handsoccupied #heidigustad #wrestlingcrafts #wwe #universalchampion #universalchampionship #wool #wooloftheandes #primarycolors #oxfordpunchneedle
I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back from the past few weeks, and as I dip my toe back into production mode, the long-promised seamed sweater knitting YouTube series is at the top of my list. I've got FOUR versions of a simple sweater I've been playing with since last JULY to feature as a free pattern for folks who want to knit along during the series. Pictured is the first prototype for the series, knit in 2 colors of @knit_picks Mighty Stitch yarn. I imagine this soon-to-be short sleeved number will come in handy as an emergency Waldo costume or Christmas sweater. 🌲 
.
I've got my own list of topics I think folks would like to see in a series like this: things like tips for construction, working with vintage patterns, how to seam as invisibly as possible, and more, but as always, I'd love to hear from you: What scares you about knitting seamed sweaters? What would be helpful to cover, especially since we'll be doing more long form video content. I get so much positive feedback on my series of 20 minute+ intarsia tutorials, so I'm using those as a starting point as I produce this series. Seamed sweaters using vintage or self-improvised patterns are one of my favorite things on the planet, so I'm eager to share some seamed sweater skills with y'all super sweet folks. 😉 
.
.
Pictured: A red and white striped, short sleeved sweater knit in pieces that have yet to be seamed. They are laid out on a yellow and orange colorblock background and one sleeve is yet to be bound off. 
.
#handsoccupied #seamedsweater #kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #waldo #waldosweater #wip #yarncraft #yarn #knitting #knittersofinstagram #heidigustad #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting
Work continues this evening on my absurd punch nee Work continues this evening on my absurd punch needle pro wrestling inspired championship belt project. I’ve finished most of the front pretty quickly thanks to the @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky yarn I’m using. For now, I’ve got a couple more weeks until Wrestlemania, & I’m on track to finish this in time! 
.
The biggest question I have is what to do with the “plates” - the open circles in the picture. Should I try to closely replicate the Universal Championship belt or go rogue and make it wool themed? Please advise in the comments. ☺️🧶🙏🏻🐑 
.
Pictured: The front of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool with navy yarn running through it rests on top of the work. 
.
#kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #punchneedle #rugmaking #primarycolors #punchneedlerughooking #punchneedlelove #wool #wip #yarncraft #yarn #yarnaddict
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy