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Hands Occupied

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

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Rick & Roll Socks are here!

March 1, 2017 Leave a Comment

Rick & Roll Socks by Heidi Gustad - Try out this colorful, fun-to-make and beginner-friendly sock knitting pattern!
Who doesn’t love a good boot-friendly sock? They keep your toes warm while doubling as a buffer between blister-inducing boot tops, plus they are a great way to add a pop of color and texture to your outfit. The Rick & Roll Socks are the newest pattern from Hands Occupied. Available on Ravelry, these socks are a great way to show off your best sock yarn. (If you’re stash diving look for 100g of yarn you can get 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch on US size 1 needles.) The Rick & Roll Socks are a perfect design for first time sock knitters to tackle because they make the most of an interesting stitch – and a clever construction trick – to create a knittable, wearable finished object.

Rick & Roll Socks by Heidi Gustad - Try out this colorful, fun-to-make and beginner-friendly sock knitting pattern!

About the Rick & Roll Socks

Worked from the cuff down, these fun socks take a classic sock structure and turn it on its head. The cuff, ankle and heel flap of these socks are actually worked inside out before turning the sock right side out to construct the gusset, foot and toe sections. Why? The rick rack rib stitch used to create a thick rib on the cuff of the sock is most easily knit right side out. Since these socks are designed to be folded down to keep ankles toasty in cold weather, it is easier to knit the cuff and ankle inside out so when worn, the zig zags of the rick rack stitch face out.

Rick Rack Rib Stitch in the Round

The real star of the Rick & Roll Socks is a stitch called the rick rack rib stitch. This is a stitch I discovered in Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (the #1 knitting reference book I recommend above all others, btw). The book features how to work the stitch flat, but not in the round as is called for in the Rick & Roll Socks. Since it wouldn’t be a new pattern release from yours truly without a tutorial video to help you through the fussy parts, here’s a brand new video on how to work the rick rack rib stitch.

Cuff Down Socks

New to cuff down sock knitting? Or any kind of sock knitting? A couple years ago, the very first knit along featured on Hands Occupied was all about knitting a pair of cuff down socks from scratch. The Rick & Roll Socks are knit using cuff down construction, so they make a great pattern to try if you’re a first time sock knitter. Check out these tutorials for how to knit socks starting from the top:

Testing Gauge & Casting On / The Heel Flap / Short Row Heel Turn / The Gusset 

Rick & Roll Socks by Heidi Gustad - Try out this colorful, fun-to-make and beginner-friendly sock knitting pattern!

Welcome, Yarnboxers!

This pattern is being released today, the same day the latest Yarnbox subscription ships out, because it’s this month’s featured design from the knitting kit subscription company. If you’re here from Yarnbox, welcome! Feel free to reach out in the comments section, on Ravelry or via email with any questions. My email address is heidi-at-handsoccupied-dot-com. :)

Rick & Roll Socks by Heidi Gustad - Try out this colorful, fun-to-make and beginner-friendly sock knitting pattern!

Read Along Knit Along

One last thing! Regular Hands Occupiers may have already guessed this, but the Rick & Roll Socks are totally the pattern we’re knitting for the Read Along Knit Along that starts Saturday, March 4. If you join the RALKAL Ravelry Thread, you can check out what everyone is talking about over there. We’ve basically been comparing what yarns people have been contemplating for the RALKAL, sharing Judy Garland gifs & generally getting ready to cast on some socks and crack open our copies of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society this weekend. If you head over there today and join us, you may even find a *cough cough* coupon code *cough* for the new pattern.

What the heck is a RALKAL? 

Filed Under: Knit Along, Knitting Tagged With: cuff down socks, handsoccupied, heidi gustad, knit socks, read along knit along, rick & roll socks, rick and roll socks, sock pattern, tglappps

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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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts

handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer 🧶
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Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern fits with no ease vs. 4” of positive ease. There’s a bit more length to the cotton (brighter color) sample, but both are cropped and feature shoulder seams designed to sit an inch back onto the shoulder instead of on top, giving it a little swing. Length is easily adjustable for folks looking for less of a crop. 
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Pattern: Bevelled Tank by @handsoccupied for @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn summer 2024. Available for free from Hobbii at the 🔗 in my profile.
Yarn pictured: @kelbournewoolens Skipper and Camper. 
Dress form is adjusted to a 36” chest and ~5’3”ish in height. 
Human has a 40” chest and is 5’5”.
Both skirts are vintage.
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #handsoccupied #intarsia #handmade #knitting #colorwork
Let’s talk about fit and ease! . During the Beve Let’s talk about fit and ease!
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During the Bevelled Tank design process for @pompommag, I knit 2 samples using 2 different @KelbourneWoolens yarns. One was in Skipper (100% cotton, second photo) and the other was in Camper (100% 2 ply wool). The Skipper sample was knit for a 36” bust, which measures in at 40” with 4” of positive ease. And I knit the Camper Sample for my 40” bust with a 44” finished measurement. (BTW, I’m 5’5” for folks that find that measurement helpful in visualizing fit.)
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Based on the size chart for the Bevelled Tank, that means I knit one size 3 sample and one size 4. As designed, I conveniently fit a size 4 as intended with 4” of positive ease. When I wear the 3, there is no ease at all because the garment and my body are both 40” in size. Comparing the 2 garments, you can see how the fiber content (cotton vs. wool) and fit (no ease vs. 4” of positive ease) makes a difference in the look and feel of the finished garment. 
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These samples are a great way to compare what ease looks like on different bodies. While I can fit both a size 3 and 4, the garment with no ease feels more like pajamas or a bralette when I wear it. On the other hand, when I wear the one with 4” of positive ease, I feel comfortable enough to wear it to work, even as a crop top. Plus, it leaves me with enough room to layer it with a nice button down if I’m not feeling the cropped look one day. 
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I’m curious - how would you style this tank? Would you modify it with a few stockinette rows for added length? I’m so curious now that this pattern is finally out in the world. :) 
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #bevelledtank #handsoccupied #knitting #intarisa #handmade #kelbournewoolens #croppedsweater #summerknits
After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m ba After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m back with a brand new pattern in 9 sizes, and it’s FREE as part of @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn’s summer design collection! (Link is in my bio.)
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In my December newsletter, I announced that I was soliciting test knitters for a pattern that had originally been selected for the summer ’24 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. However, the magazine ceased publication after its spring ’24 issue, leaving in-progress designs unpublished. (It happens.) As a result, I’d begun the long process of editing, testing, and photographing the pattern for independent release through the Hands Occupied pattern shop and Ravelry.
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Before I was done with that process, Pom Pom Quarterly’s former editors reached out with an exciting proposal for the pattern. Post-magazine, they’ve begun to partner with yarn companies to produce high quality pattern collections. They wanted to include designs from the would-be current issue of Pom Pom Quarterly in a new collection for Hobbii yarn, including my Bevelled Tank. I worked with the same technical editors I would have for the magazine on this one, and as you can see from the photos, Pom Pom’s team did an amazing job of styling the garment to the beautiful standards they’re known for.
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You can learn more about the pattern on my blog and get the free pattern from Hobbii yarn - links to both in my profile. I’ll post sizing info in the comments for quick reference too. 🧶
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #knitting #intarsia #sponsored #colorworkknitting 
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Photos: @dianascarrunz 
Model: @angel.jade_
Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vi Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vintage knitting pattern from 1938 called the Fernlace Pullover. A pattern so nice, I knit it twice.
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Yellow version 💛: knit with Despondent Dyes’ Vintage Vixen Sport after attending a @squidneyknits vintage knitting retreat in 2019 & learning *so much*. Paired with a self-drafted circle skirt pattern. 
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Blue version 💙: knit with @eweeweyarns Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue. Paired with the 1940s Boardwalk Duet sewing pattern from @decades_of_style 
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Head to my stories for 🔗🔗 to the handmade wardrobe blog posts I wrote about each take on the Fernlace Pullover, working with a vintage pattern, where to find vintage patterns (including the one I used), & some thoughts on sizing. 
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Image descriptions available in alt text. 
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#handsoccupied #handmadewardrobe #fernlacepullover #vintageknitting #vintageknittingpatterns #knitting_inspiration
Frogging is a word in the knitting world that mean Frogging is a word in the knitting world that means to rip out your knitting. It’s called frogging because frogs say “ribbit,” and when you’re tearing out your knitting, you will “rip it” out, and that sounds like ribbit. No really. 🐸 Did you know this fun fact? 
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P.S. I did like this design concept, but to make the pattern more knitter friendly as well as more wearable, I am making some tweaks to the construction. Excited to share when it’s ready! 🥰🧶
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Yarn: @blueskyfibers Woolstok North in Morning Frost & Highland Fleece 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #frogging #blueskyfibers #knittersofinstagram #blueskymakers #knittingvocabulary #bsfmakers #knitdesign
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