Extras Archives - Whistle and Ivy

DIY Fur Pom-Poms

October 19, 2017 by Bethany 19 Comments

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Last year, when I put out my Buffalo Plaid Slouchy Hat, I wanted to add a fur pom-pom for the perfect finishing touch. I went to every local store I could think of and no one carried them. I decided to publish the pattern with a yarn pom-pom instead and order a fur one online for later. After searching, I finally found a shop on Etsy that sold beautiful ones, only for the shop owner to take a fall/holiday break. Nooo!
I scoured the internet, wondering if there was possibly a way to make DIY Fur Pom-Poms. I couldn’t conceive that it was possible to make them! I found a tutorial and the main technique was much easier than I though! I made a fur pom-pom the way she described, cutting the circle out with scissors. But… it looked like it had a bad haircut on the bottom, and it wasn’t hidden when sewn in place. Plus, it made an incredibly hairy mess.
What to do?
Then my husband suggested using my Precision Knife to cute the fabric back.
Of course!

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How to Make Knit and Crochet Slippers Non-Slip – 7 Tried and Tested Ways

September 1, 2017 by Bethany 22 Comments

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I get asked this question quite often, crocheters wondering how to make make crochet slippers non-slip. Unfortunately, until writing this post, I wasn’t really sure. Fortunately, I decided to figure it out! I had heard of a few methods in crochet groups and Facebook comments but hadn’t tried any of them myself. I decided it’s time to gather up all the ideas I can find and put them to the test.

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Blocking Afghan Squares

July 25, 2017 by Bethany 4 Comments

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Welcome back to the Solar System CAL! Before we go too deep into the Crochet Along, (I have heard talk that I may need to give some time to you to catch up) I wanted to write a post about blocking afghan squares. Do you block your squares? It’s not absolutely necessary, but I encourage it because it makes the finished blanket look so much nicer. There are lots of ways to block finished crochet items, but I wanted to share with you how I blocked my afghan squares and you can decide if you want to do it the same way.

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5 FREE Pretty Yarn Wallpaper Photos

July 15, 2016 by Bethany 4 Comments

Don’t you love the look of your yarn stash? I keep my yarn organized by color (mostly), and I love how pretty and bright it is in the corner of my office, stacked (sometimes neatly) on a tall bookshelf. I was thinking about how pretty it would be to have beautiful yarn on my devices too, so I whipped out my camera and snapped a few photos of some of my favorite colors of yarn. They turned out nice, so I wondered if maybe you wanted pretty yarn wallpaper on your devices too? I have a few you can choose from. I also sized them for a phone and a tablet.

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How to Crochet a Straight Seam with Hdc Stitches

December 15, 2015 by Bethany 13 Comments

A few months ago I was designing this popular Bow Arm Warmers crochet pattern, when I hit a problem. It’s something that happens often, but because my projects were wider, it wasn’t an issue before: the diagonal seam. These arm warmers had a seam wrapping around them like a spiral, and I didn’t like it one bit. But what to do? I wasn’t willing to change the stitch, hdc will always be my favorite, pretty little stitch. So I experimented. I am pleased to say that I found an easy way to fix the problem: how to crochet a straight seam with hdc stitches.

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How to Make and Attach a Pom-Pom

November 2, 2015 by Bethany 33 Comments

Happy November my lovely readers! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
I never thought about posting this, but I recently had several readers leave comments wondering how I made the pom-poms that I put on top of my hats. I am happy to oblige! In fact, I wanted to show you how to make and attach a pom-pom to the hats you make.

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16 Clever Yarn Ideas

March 20, 2015 by Bethany 12 Comments

Crocheting will always have my heart, and will always be my favorite things to do with yarn. But, if you are like me, you end up with a bunch of yarn scraps, remnants or small balls that you don’t know what to do with! Throwing it away is definitely off the table, but what? I searched through Pinterest and Google and found some very fun and very clever ideas.Here are 16 yarn ideas to get your creative juices flowing and I am sure you can come up with a bunch more ideas!

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