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Hands Occupied

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

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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! »

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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

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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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