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

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A closer look at the RALCAL Prizes!

April 23, 2018 Leave a Comment

A closer look at the Read Along Crochet Along prize pack on Hands Occupied, featuring a Darn Good Yarn yarn bowl, bag handles from Jul Designs, a Love & Leche lotion bar, and yarn from Why Knot Fibers.
The prize pack for this year’s Read Along Crochet Along is our best yet! In fact, it’s so good that it deserves its own closer look blog post, so here we go! This set of prizes has a lot of goodies that would make any crocheter’s the day. :)

Why Knot Fibers’ Spunky Yarn Up Close

Why Knot Fibers' Spunky yarn is a sport weight, 100% superwash merino wool yarn with lots of spring. 
I haven’t yet had the chance to talk to you folks about the yarn that helped inspire the Worker Bee Bag design! Why Knot Fibers’ Spunky yarn is a sport weight, 100% superwash merino wool yarn with lots of spring. Why Knot hand dyes their yarns, and their semisolid colors are to-die-for pretty. As you can see in the photos of the swatches in particular (and if you’ve looked at the photos of the Worker Bee Bag), the variation in color intensity results in really visually interesting finished objects.

Why Knot Fibers' Spunky yarn is a sport weight, 100% superwash merino wool yarn with lots of spring. 
Colorways pictured: Magic for Margiold (yellow) & Smoke and Shadows (grey)
Skein details:
 100g / 3.5 oz. skeins / 271 yds / 100% superwash merino wool / sport weight
Knitting needles: US 5, 3.75 mm / 18 stitches & 24 rows over 4 inches
Crochet hook: US G-6, 4 mm / 19 sc & 24 rows over 4 inches
Cons: If you need to tear out a ton, Spunky can get a little splitty, so if you’re trying a new technique and anticipate a lot of tearing back, you might want to practice with some yarn ends first.
Pros: The color and the spring, friends! They’re really fun to work with – the spring makes it a tactile joy for sure. And the beauty of Why Knot’s semisolids can’t really be overstated. :)
Pattern ideas: For crochet, the Worker Bee Bag, of course! And for knitting, this would make a beautiful Outlander Chevron Shawl.

Why Knot Fibers' Spunky yarn is a sport weight, 100% superwash merino wool yarn with lots of spring. 

Our other prizes

Last week, we took a closer look at the wonderful lotion bar from Love & Leche (and over the weekend, two different varieties were added to the Shop!), so I’ll direct you to that post for just about everything you need to know about that prize. :)

Our Read Along Crochet Along prize pack for this go around also includes the very same yarn bowl I use in my everyday knitting – a handmade wooden yarn bowl from Darn Good Yarn. Yarn bowls are great because you simply run your working yarn through a coil-like shape and rest your yarn ball in the bowl itself. Then your yarn is in an easily accessible position to knit or crochet without you having to worry about it rolling away. One yarn bowl is included in the Read Along prize pack, but if you just can’t wait to hear who wins (or if you’re not a RALCALer), you can get one of Darn Good Yarn’s handmade wooden yarn bowls for 50% off using the code YB50. :)

In addition to the lotion bar, yarn bowl, and the yarn, there’s also a pair of handles from Jul Designs in the prize pack too! These are the very handles that helped inspire my Lopi Tote knitting design and, of course, the Worker Bee Bag crochet design. So if you’ve RALCALed along with us, you can finish your project with the same handles you’ve seen in the pictures. They are high quality and made with beautiful, durable leather. They attach to your work with screws so you can easily secure them to a finished knit or crochet project, and remove them to wash your handmade bag.

A closer look at the Read Along Crochet Along prize pack on Hands Occupied, featuring a Darn Good Yarn yarn bowl, bag handles from Jul Designs, a Love & Leche lotion bar, and yarn from Why Knot Fibers.

RALCALing? Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Let’s review. Our amazing prizes include: a skein of Why Knot Fibers’ Spunky yarn in Smoke and Shadows, a Sweet Sheep Lotion Bar from Love & Leche, a set of Jul Designs’ bag handles, & a handmade wooden yarn bowl from Darn Good Yarn.

You can enter the giveaway here or below. You must be participating in the RALCAL to win. Open to US, Canada, UK, Australia, Denmark & Germany. Entries close at 11:59 pm CST on April 30. Winner announced in the following Picks of the Week post. If you’re on mobile, you’ll have to click a button or visit this page to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prizes provided by Why Knot Fibers, Darn Good Yarn, Jul Designs, and Love & Leche. Post contains affiliate links. 

PS: As an added extra special treat bonus, one of our Read Along Crochet Along sponsors, Love & Leche, gave us a bonus lotion bar to give away! Enter in last week’s review post.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored, Knit Along Tagged With: cal, crochet along, ralcal, read along crochet along, worker bee bag

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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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, designer & creator specializing in yarn crafts like knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé
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Nobody panic. This is just the back of an (admitte Nobody panic. This is just the back of an (admittedly insane) intarsia project. One day, this will be a seamed sweater, but today is not that day. 🧶 
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Have a good weekend, everyone! 
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Yarn: @universal_yarn’s Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Antarctica & Dragon’s Breath 
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#handsoccupied #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #wip #knitting
Here’s how to work a Norwegian purl stitch for e Here’s how to work a Norwegian purl stitch for easier continental style knitting. With this purling method, the working yarn says tensioned (held) at the back of your knitting at all times. For many knitters, always holding the yarn at the back helps with tension issues, as well as feeling a little more comfortable. 
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Have you ever encountered this style of purling before? If you’ve tried it, have you found it helps with your purl tension and knitting speed? I’m curious.
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For a written tutorial, visit handsoccupied-dot-com. For video, you guessed it, You2be. Both of these platforms allow for longer, more in-depth versions of this tutorial, including full transcripts, alt text & the ability to pause, slow down or speed up at will. (Like if you really want to learn this, I recommend using a platform that doesn’t keep your hands occupied. Thinking of putting this in all my captions these days tbh - shout out to you if you made it this far. 🙌🏻😂)
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#handsoccupied #learntoknit #continentalknitting #howtoknit #norwegianpurl #norwegianknitting #knit #knitting #knitter #knittersofinstagram #knittinghack  #handknitting #handknit #norwegianpurling
Have you ever tried this style of purl? . All thi Have you ever tried this style of purl? 
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All this recent talk about throwing vs. continental style knitting made it clear many people struggle with purling in continental knitting. Turns out that Norway may have the answer! In Norwegian purling, the working yarn stays tensioned at the back at all times, helping with speed and tension. 🤯
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Head to the bl0g (🔗 in bi0) for a more in-depth look at how to work a Norwegian purl stitch, including a photo tutorial with animated GIF & a video tutorial. Wrapping your mind around how to work a stitch you’re familiar with in a totally new way can be confusing, so I tried to give a few options for clarity. 🤙🏻 Video is also on You2be. 
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#handsoccupied #norwegianpurl #norwegianknitting #norwegianpurling #continentalknitting #howtoknit #learntoknit #knitterofinstagram #knitters
It’s been a hot second since I showed my face or It’s been a hot second since I showed my face or reintroduced myself, so here goes! I’m Heidi Gustad, a craft book author, pattern designer, and tutorial creator who specializes in yarn crafts. Lately, I’ve been focused on releasing quality knitting videos and related blog posts to help teach things like the difference between provisional cast ons and how to fix common knitting mistakes. Next week I’m shooting requested crochet and latch hook videos, so h👀kers, your time is coming! And if you ever have tutorial requests, please let me know. ☺️
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TLDR: I’m Heidi. I design & teach yarn crafts. You can find tutorials on my blog (est. 2010) & You2be. I also have several knitting & crochet patterns + a book about latch hook available. / All of these can be found on my website, the 🔗 is where you’d think. 
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Are you a picker or a thrower? Do you knit Contine Are you a picker or a thrower? Do you knit Continental or English Style? Here’s a quick overview of the differences between the two most common knitting styles, including a side by side comparison. (A good one to save for future reference. 👍🏻) 
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There’s more on the differences between picking and throwing in my latest blog post & You 2ube video - the l1nk is where you’d think!
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