Lindy's Knits & Laces Crochet,General Comments,knitting,Vintage Crochet Lack of New Posts

Lack of New Posts

June 4, 2011June 4, 2011| LindyBeirLindyBeir| 0 Comment | 9:45 pm
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I apologize to those who read my little blog — I have not posted for some time due to computer issues.

About a month ago, my DH and I both got new HP Desktops with Windows 7 as the operating system. After making all the necessary file transfers, I got up and running and thought things were just dandy. The new desktop was much faster and I loved my much larger monitor (great for these old eyes!). Then, about two weeks ago, funky random things started happening as I was using my new PC. Things like the screen just freezing up — which caused me to go to Task Manager and force the “not responding” program to close. Over the next several days, this went to happening at weird random and unpredictable intervals to happening almost every time I went on to the Internet. And then, it also started happening when I was in other programs — including the game Solitare and even Word. And — it was getting so that Task Manager couldn’t shut down the “not responding” program — now, when it happened the entire PC locked up — and I do mean LOCKED UP! The only way out was to hold down the Power Button until the machine shut down….yep, a hard shut down.

So, last weekend I started researching this little problem. I had to use my iPad — ’cause my HP certainly wasn’t going to let me do any surfing on it. And I discovered that this is a KNOWN problem with Windows 7. I found lots of threads about this little issue — one of which had been going on in a forum for over two years. From this research, I gleaned a few helpful suggestions that I thought I might try. Now this surfing took me most of Saturday afternoon over the Memorial Day holiday. So Sunday, I decided to check out HP Technical Support and see if there was anything new or helpful about this problem. And you know what? HP had a technical article on this problem — along with a whole series of steps to follow to determine how best to fix this little issue.

Now — before anybody goes there — the first thing I did when this little problem popped up was to run my virus scanning software — I did a full scan of my hard drive. As we all know, a virus is the most likely cause of problems with your computer. My computer scan came up clean. No viruses.

So, what was the cause? It was most likely either a program I had recently installed or an update to Windows that had been automatically installed. The solution? Well, HP has a utility called “System Restore” that allows you to go back and “restore” your system to a point before that update — i.e. a time before the problem started happening. Full instructions for how to do this were given in the article. BUT — before I went forward with this, I decided to back up my files — and this took me most of Sunday afternoon. Then Monday I was able to go ahead and do the System Restore. I discovered that there had been an update to Windows just before I started experiencing my issue. So I took my system back to the point just before that update. Viola! No more freezing or locking up! Whew! problem solved.

Not sure what conclusion to draw from all of this. Clearly it is a known issue that can randomly occur with Windows 7 — but it doesn’t appear to be something that Microsoft has addressed at this point — even though it apparently has been happening to Windows 7 users since 2009. I find it interesting that HP has a solution for the problem in the form of a utility that allows you to restore the system back to a point before the problem started to happen.

Anyway — that’s my tale of woe. Now that I have a working PC, I can get to work and actually write a new post about my new vintage crochet pattern. Stop back in a couple of days — I should have the pattern ready and available.

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How to Knit a Basic Beanie without a Pattern — Part 2: Crown ShapingHow to Knit a Basic Beanie without a Pattern — Part 2: Crown Shaping

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024| LindyBeirLindyBeir| 0 Comment| 12:07 pm

In my previous post, I discussed the basic structure of a basic beanie hat and how to knit the brim and the body of the hat. Once you have knitted the hat to the desired length before the start of the crown shaping, you have basically knit a cylinder as shown below.

If you look at the top of the cylinder, it is a circle – and this is the area where you shape the crown by gradually decreasing stitches to close the top of the hat. I usually decrease my stitches down to somewhere between 6 to 12 stitches and then finish the top of the hat by breaking the yarn and using the tail to close the very top of the hat.

Shaping the Crown: The shape of the crown is determined by the number of stitches you need to decrease, the type of decreases you use and how frequently you make your decreases.

Basic beanies usually have either a “spiral” shaped crown or a “wedge” shaped crown. Spiral shaped crowns are made by dividing the number of stitches into an equal number of segments where the decreases are made. The number of segments can be 5, 6, 7, or 8. The number you choose depends upon the total number of stitches and whether the total is evenly divisible by the number of segments. For example, 96 stitches can be divided into 6 equal segments of 16 stitches, or it can be divided into 8 equal segments of 12 stitches. If you have a number of stitches that cannot be evenly divided, then you will need to decrease your stitches down to a number that can be evenly segmented.

Typically, the decrease used for crown shaping is K2Tog which is a right-leaning decrease. You can also use the SSK decrease which leans left. However, you need to use only one of these two decreases in order to knit the spiral shape for your crown.

A wedge-shaped crown has only 4 segments. If you want this shape for your crown, you will divide your stitches by 4 and then use double decreases as you shape the crown. Using 96 stitches as an example, you would have 4 segments of 24 stitches.

To decrease you can use a combination of K2Tog and SSK at each point of decrease or you can use a Central Double Decrease(CDD).

I usually place a stitch or 2 between the K2Tog and SSK decrease when making the wedge-shaped crown. This gives the top of the hat a decorative ridge. The CDD makes a decorative line itself.

Rate of Decreases: Typically, I start crown decreases at a rate of every other round – where I decrease in each segment until I have knit approximately 1.5 inches and then I switch to decreasing every round until I am down to somewhere between 12 and 6 stitches. This is based on my experience.

Calculating Decrease Rates: I know it’s a lot of math, but here goes: To calculate your own rate of decrease, you need to know the number of rows that remain for the crown of the hat and your row gauge. The crown of the hat is approximately 1/3 of the total length of the hat. For example, the total length of the hat is 11 inches  — and 1/3 of this is 3.7 inches. Using a row gauge of 7 rounds per inch. 3.7 x 7 equals 25.9 rounds (round up to 26 rounds). I need to decrease from 96 stitches to 12 stitches at a rate of 6 sts per decrease round. This gives me 14 sets of decreases (96-12 = 84, 84/6 = 14). Dividing the total number of rounds by the number of decrease rounds gives me 1.9. Now I can opt to decrease EOR over 28 rows, which makes my hat slightly longer, or I can decrease EOR for 20 rows (decreasing 60 sts) and then decrease every row for 6 rows (decreasing 36 sts) and end with 10 sts to close the top of the hat. Either way will give me a hat with a close-fitting crown.

I have now covered how to make a basic beanie hat without using a pattern. Give it a try using your choice of yarn and your gauge. Happy Knitting. 🙂

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FO: SFS Team Knit SocksFO: SFS Team Knit Socks

February 27, 2010February 27, 2010| LindyLindy| 0 Comments| 11:31 am


I have finally finished my second pair of SFS (Socks for Soldiers) OD regulation socks. This pair was team knit with another SFS knitter who knit the legs on her circular sock machine. I am amazed at how long these socks are when they are finished.


While I was finishing up these socks, the President of SFS emailed a request out to members for cotton washcloths. So, since I needed a break from knitting on very small needles, I knit up three cotton washcloths to go along with the socks.


In addition to the socks and washcloths, I purchased a few toiletries and some non-perishable goodies to send as part of my package to SFS. All of this will get pooled with supplies from other knitters and placed into a larger shipment that will make its way to one of the military units on our list. It feels good to know that a soldier serving somewhere outside of the U.S. will be getting special treats from home.

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Helpful Swatch Part 5: Substituting One Yarn for AnotherHelpful Swatch Part 5: Substituting One Yarn for Another

August 31, 2020August 31, 2020| LindyBeirLindyBeir| 0 Comment| 8:00 am

Many times a knitter will select a pattern to knit only to discover that the yarn used in the pattern is either not available or there isn’t a sufficient quantity available for purchase or it costs more than what the budget allows. So, that leads to finding a reasonable substitute to use. I have seen many forum posts in Ravelry where knitters have had difficulty making a proper substitution.

The first step in substituting one yarn for another is to look for a yarn of similar fiber composition that has approximately the same weight and recommended gauge as the yarn listed in the pattern. By this, I mean if the yarn used in the pattern is worsted weight (size 4), it’s best to find another worsted weight yarn to use as the substitute. If you are purchasing from a local yarn shop, the staff may help you find a substitute. If shopping online, Yarnsub.com is a helpful website that can be used to guide your initial search. Another resource is Ravelry – if the pattern is available in the Patterns database, you can look at others’ projects to see what yarns have been used. Regardless, once you pick your substitute yarn – you’ll need to swatch to find your gauge before you cast on and begin knitting the pattern.

Question: “I’m not getting the same gauge with my substituted yarn as the gauge stated in the pattern – what do I do now?

Here are some options to consider:

  1. Change needle size and reknit the swatch to see if you can match the gauge. If you are getting more stitches than the stated gauge – go up one or two needle sizes. If you are getting fewer stitches than the stated gauge – go down one or two needle sizes. If you succeed in matching gauge with the change in needles and you like the fabric you are producing, then simply follow your pattern and knit with the size needle that helps you get gauge.
  2. If you still can’t get gauge after changing needle sizes, but you like the fabric you are getting, calculate the number of stitches you need to cast-on to match your chest measurement and check the pattern to see if there is a size that uses the same number of stitches. You may still need to make adjustments in shaping if your row gauge is different from the pattern.
  3. Use the pattern as a guide only – use the schematic plus any adjustments you need to make and then determine the stitch counts and rows needed to make the garment with your own gauge. (A good reference for this is Knitting Pattern Essentials by Sally Melville)

Here’s the next issue for substituting one yarn for another: Does the substitute have the same weight and yardage as the original yarn? If it does – you are in luck and can simply buy the same amount of yarn as what is given in the pattern for the size of the garment you want to knit. (Remember to buy an extra one for swatching.) However, in most cases there is a difference in yardage and/or weight between the substitute and the original yarn – which leads to the question: “How much of my substitute yarn do I need? This brings us back to the basic math I covered in my previous post: “To determine the number of skeins, balls or hanks of yarn you need: Divide the number of yards by the number of yards in the skein. Or divide the total number of grams by the number of grams of the skein.  Remember that you will want one extra skein for swatching. “

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