Dance in the Wind

A poem inspired by trees near my son's school.






You stand tall


yet your bows are bent and twisted,


gnarly and knotted,


they neither reach nor touch.



To read the rest of the poem please visit Elephant Journal

Never too late....

Where was I?

 Who was I?

 At 55, I was utterly lost. Believed I was a total failure. Everything I ever did went wrong, or so the little voice in my head kept saying. I struggled with relationships and when they fell apart, it was my fault so the little voice in my head kept saying. Anything that went wrong around me was all my fault. Despondent and utterly miserable and the only person to blame was also my fault—or so the little voice in my head kept telling me.

To read the rest of this article please visit
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/04/never-too-late-jackie-tyler/

People often ask me what is my favourite crochet hook. I have many different types in stock at Karp Styles . Some have gold plated tips, some have ergonimic handles. There are so many types of hooks this days and it is totally a personal preference when picking hooks.

I have always been a huge fan of Aero hooks. Nearly everything I have ever crocheted was made with an Aero of one size or another.

Vox and What I am Reading

An update to my previous post. After getting rather unappy with Kobo again, they gave methe details of where to ship the faulty Vox. They said they would pay (not credited to my account as yet) and would ship a new one as soon as I sent them the tracking details. 9 days later my new Vox arrived. I have barely put it down. I have installed Kindle and Sony E-Reader apps on it too so I can read books from all e-book retailers. Also have Netflix on it. I doubt if I will use it to watch Netflix but, hey, you never know!

Two books on the go right now.

1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12  I heard it is sometime of use for dealing with children who have FASD or ARND.

Wicked Fury which was written by someone who attended the same school as me. Pinner Grammar School. The book has had me shivering, my heard started pounding really fast as if I was very scared, goosebumps and also quite emotional. It is well work the low price to download it and get hooked.

Kobo Vox ARGH!!

I got a Kobo Vox at Christmas. Sound didn't work from the speaker. Called Kobo and they said to reset it to factory defaults. Did that and still nothing. Told us we would hear from a tech. Never did. Got an email saying the problem was solved!!?!?!. Emailed again, and was told to reset it. HA HA. Around this time I began to search online and see if Kobo had good customer feedback. Clearly not. Only wish I had known before money was spent. We just kept getting standard "Thank you for contacting us etc etc" email. Finally I got pretty fed up (that is putting it very politely) and I found an online message board for Kobo. And I posted my complaint for all to read. We finally began to get somewhere. Sadly, the postage label they sent was Fedex and they do not take shipments in this remote town. So we contacted them again on Jan 2 to let them know and they said they would get back to us with another shipping method. Now we are at Jan 11 and still nothing. Emailed on Jan 6 to ask how long it would take and received another auto response. Today I blew a fuse on their message board. Response - we have checked your incident # and see that somebody is dealing with you. HUH??? That was back on Jan 2!

The reason I chose a Kobo Vox was that I wanted to deal with a Canadian company. BIG MISTAKE. Lesson learnt....research much more re customer service and faulty goods before buying. They have a really bad service record and it appears many people are pulling their hair out trying to get service. I should have just bought a Kindle and not have had to facility to have books read to Jesse in colour. I also wanted to install other apps and ordinary Kobos and Kindles can't do that.

New Hooks


Just received a shipment of Symfonie Dreamz Crochet Hooks.

Very impressed with the finish on these hooks. Smooth - so sure not to snag yarns. They are not too long either. I often find wooden hooks to be longer than metal hooks for some reason. These are a perfect length for me. I get a feeling these might become a favourite of mine.

I am not normally one for New Year's Resolutions. However -- having taken a long hard look at all of the recycling bags in my closet, I feel this needs to change. My New Year Resolution is to actually finish some of these projects/designs.
The list so far:

1. Border Baby Cardigan. My own design. Needs sleeves. Knit
2. Baby Headband with flower. Crochet
3. Santa Hat - crochet. This will be unravelled. Umm think I missed Xmas!!
4. Baby Car Seat Heart Blanket. My own design. Have made many squares but then just stopped for some reason. This is a great portable project.
5. Santa Hat - knit. I will still try to finish this one. It shouldn't take too long.
6. Cardigan for myself - knit. My own design.

This is the Border Baby Cardigan - I need to find my notes for the sleeves.

Also realised I have a few sewing projects. Have the fabric but haven't even begun to use it. Considering I purchased a Serger especially for some of these, I really feel I need to get a move on.

1. Speed Skating Skin Suit for Jesse - have some great Speedo Lycra for the top part.
2. Fleece Lounge Pants. Polar Bear Fleece is ready and waiting.
3. Pajama pants. Cats and Dogs Flannel.

And just because Jesse (in green) is so funny here is a photo of him with his best friend Jack. Picture was taken at our November Speed Skating Camp.