Ravelry – a community for knitters and crocheters

July 16, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comment | 10:24 pm

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Are you on Ravelry? If so, you know about this marvelous site on the web for interacting with other knitters/crocheters with like interests. If you haven’t heard of it or looked it over – I recommend you check it out: www. Ravelry.com. In order to get the full benefit of the site, you need to join and it takes a while to get your Ravelry ID, but it is worth the wait. There are groups to join, forums to participate in, and your own area for listing projects, keeping track of your stash, inventorying your books and much more. There are also places to locate patterns – with the ability to purchase if you want or you can contribute a pattern to the site. And of course, there are many other knitters and crocheters who participate on the site and are willing to help with questions and solving technical problems. Warning: you can find yourself spending a lot of time on this site!

P.S. My Ravelry ID is “LindyBeir” if you want to find me there.

Lack of New PostsLack of New Posts

June 4, 2011| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 9:45 pm

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.

Acquiring Needles over TimeAcquiring Needles over Time

September 9, 2021| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 9:58 am

When I started knitting decades ago, the choices and types of knitting needles were limited. I started out using the Boye brand of aluminum straight single point needles in US size 10.5 – I think they were about 8 inches long. My next set of needles were US size 8 and were 14 inches in length. I continued acquiring single point aluminum needles – buying them one set at a time as I needed for the project I was working on. I still have most of those sets and I don’t use them much anymore.

I also acquired double point needles(dpns) as I learned to knit in the round or circular. These were purchased generally from big box type stores that carried knitting supplies. I have a mix of aluminum. bamboo, and birch needles. Again, I still have these needles but I rarely use them.

My first sets of circular needles were also purchased at big box stores and are aluminum or bamboo with thicker cables. I eventually found a local yarn shop in my area and this opened up a whole new avenue for buying knitting needles. The needles carried by the shop were of a much higher quality than what was available through the big box stores. My first purchases of fixed circular needles were Addi brand. Over time, I acquired a collection of these needles in various lengths. Again, I bought the size and length of needles as I needed them for projects.

I purchased my first set of interchangeable knitting needles about 25 years after I started knitting. I still use this set regularly but I also have acquired additional interchangeable needles and cables over time.

What I describe above is a process that I believe most knitters go through as they progress in the craft of knitting. You start out with what you are introduced to as a beginner and go from there. Today’s knitter has a much wider array of choices in knitting needles.

There are many different brands available as well as many different materials, not only aluminum and bamboo, but different types of woods, stainless steel, nickel, and acrylic. There are also many different options for where to buy knitting needles today. Knitters now have the option of buying knitting supplies online in addition to stores/shops in their area. It is wonderful to have so many different choices – but it can also be challenging for the new knitter. In my next post, I will discuss tips for selecting needles that I hope will help you the next time you wish to buy a set of needles.

Diaster in HaitiDiaster in Haiti

January 14, 2010| Lindy| 0 Comment| 12:15 pm

I’m sure everyone has watched the tv coverage of the earthquake in Haiti with horror and a sense of “what can I do” to help. Like many, it seems the best action that I can take is to donate to one or more of the humanitarian organizations who are already speeding their way into Haiti to help.

There are so many organizations out there — and it becomes a challenge to know which ones are the best ones to support. After listening to the coverage today — two organizations struck me as: 1) already in place and, 2) focused on some of the most critical needs of the people in Haiti. Those two organizations are Doctors without Borders and the Salvation Army. These two organizations also tend to receive less donations than the Red Cross. Doctors without Borders are already working to serve the severely overwhelming need for medical care in Haiti and the Salvation Army is working to set up shelters and feed people in need.

So — I’ve gone online and donated to both Doctors without Borders and the Salvation Army. I know many others will also be donating to the organizations of their choice today. If you have not yet decided what organization will receive your donations — please check these two worthy organizations out. I’ve included links to their sites below.