Wednesday, October 31, 2007

This is the Christmas ornament that I tatted for my mom & dad for Christmas when I was about 13 years old. [Or maybe much later. Mark found the pattern in a DMC book called Festive Tatting 1983, but I wonder if it was published earlier than that also. I can't imagine me having time to tat in 1983 - 1993. I was working full time and trying to raise 3 little kids on my own.]
Of course since I'm getting old my memory may be fooling me. Or I could just plain be wrong.
Has anyone seen the pattern in another book?


I know that the pattern was in a book, but I don't know what book. I added the white faceted beads there were bare threads between the rings, and in the book there was a small star or cross in the center. I just tatted a ring instead.

My mom kept it put away, and it came back to me when she passed away a few years ago. I gave it to my niece Kerri, and when she died I got it back to photograph, but her husband, Jerry, wanted to keep it.

The thread is knit cro sheen. That's the only thread that was available to me other than the small tatting thread. This measures about 3" wide by about 4" tall.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Snowflake - Copyright 2007 Rozella Linden

I've been playing with thread. This snowflake is worked in one round, six figure 8 rings (twisted Celtic Rings) joined at the center. There are 6 rings thrown off, chains between.

Hugs,
Ruth

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Click to Mix and Solve

Friday, October 26, 2007

Adventures in Podcasting!

Well I decided last Spring that I wanted to do a tatting podcast. Here is what has happened so far, and what I have learned.

It's really all Lily Morales' fault. She came to Kansas City and brought her ipod. Our grandkids had asked for an ipod nano for Christmas, but spending $199.00 on each of the grandkids seemed a bit much, so they got generic MP3 players, dollies, and a carseat for the youngest.

Now, I had a birthday last Spring, and we got a tax refund... so * I * got an ipod. One of the good ones with video. We bought the ipod, the cables, gadgets, cases, etc. ( but I'm worth it ).

So off to learn about podcasts. I got the FREE iTunes application downloaded, bought a ripper or 3, cause it took me three tries to get one that I liked. Now, I can listen to podcasts and my movies... WOW~!

Such amazing things to learn about! No tatting podcasts though. Along the way, I had to purchase some TV and music from iTunes. Had to, honest!

Moving on to Ohio, still no tatting podcasts. Bought a webcam with mic, and a headset with mic. I also bought a book about Podcasts, Podcast Solutions - The Complete Guide to Podcasting.

Good news! The software to record audio is free, and on the disk with the book. I just had to go download the update for the software, and the plugin to convert to MP3, which is a proprietary format. But then, that was free too.

Next I needed some way to get the Tatting podcast into iTunes. Hmmmm I tried out a couple of "podcatchers" but they want to insert advertising into MY podcast. Guess that's why they are free, right? Trust me, they do make money on what's out there.

I decided on a website that does podcasts, and lets you have a store, and a blog, and lots of cool features. http://tatting.podbean.com It was not free. So now you know what I do with the money I get for the books I sell... I spend it on doing more cool tatting things.

First customer. DISASTER! She got an error message when she tried to order one of my books, so I had a go-round with the website people over fixing the bug. It's fixed now, and tested, and everyone can buy my Celtic Black Widow Spider pattern in my store, and I even put a bookstore where you can purchase tatting books from Amazon.com.

I did a bunch of graphics for the website, the store, the podcast. And I subscribed to a bunch of podcasts on iTunes, including one about doing podcasts. Personally I prefer listening to the literary things. The Walrus and the Carpenter, and Jabberwoky are my favorites, but I think I got Katie Verna hooked on iTunes and the poetry on there.

Ready, set, go!

I decided to record a sound clip of a little music box that Shirley G. gave me a year or two ago. So I plugged everything in, turned it on, and recorded.

UGH! Nasty! I edited out the noise, and got the help of my DH to do some audio stuff to clean it up. He showed me how to get a better recording. Better, all right. All the noise was much clearer, and the music was about the consistency of scraping nailes on a chalkboard.

So Dan suggested that what we really need is a sound board and a decent mic, or two. Looked on the internet and found a store about 30 miles or so from here where we could go look at stuff. Dan has worked on sound stuff before and he speaks a foreign language when he gets to talking about sound. Ohms, amps, mili amps, and a whole lot of math like fast for-EE-Yay and Descrete cosine transforms. Don't ask. You don't need to know.

So Dan got off work around 3 this afternoon, and since the store is only open M-F 10-6 we headed out.

"Hello, may I help you?"
"Yes, I'd like to do some podcasts."
"We have a kit for that. It's $99.00"
"let me see it."
Dan is listening patiently... tells the salesman to bring out specs, and some microphones to look at, and picks a midi thingy and two microphones, two cables, two mic stands, a pop filter. About 2.5 times my budget for doing this. But we didn't buy an expensive mic or anything... Some of them cost $1,000.00. Whew!

The salesman compliments us on our nice little sound studio. Dan tells me it will make a big difference when we get it all setup in the closet. OK, that's the best room we have for recording according to Dan, who is an Electrical Engineer by education.

So we bring it home, set it up, and find out that we have to go download the drivers for the midi thingy. Have to register it, then sign up for a newsletter, then it will let us download the driver software ( which is a beta version).

Great.

Uh, nothing. Is it connected? Is it turned on? Does it have the right buttons pushed in/out? Does the software know where to get the sound from? OK, now?

Nothing. Oh it's the INput that has to be setup to this thing. No that's right. OK, the OUTput has to be setup to this thingy too.

TaDa! It even records breathing from across the room... uh, OK. So we record my music box.
Uh Oh, mono. We wanted stereo. Have to go fiddle with preferences til we get it to do stereo.

All Righty then. Now what? OK I guess I have to finish writing my script, so I have something to record. :-)

I won't tell you how much this has all cost. No need to admit that we spent that much on toys. And the software was all FREE !!!

So if you want to know where I'll be, just go look in the closet, or at the computer writing a script.

Hah! Nope, tomorrow I'm going to go over to ZigZag corner for the lace guild meeting. Procrastination is an Artform. I'll get around to learning to procrastinate tomorrow, maybe.

Hugs,
Ruth - who is NOW ready to begin podcasting. I think.

Ta! Da! Ready to record

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Mr. Clickity Clank - The Bone Collector Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Celtic Knot Skeleton - Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry - Rozella Linden

My friend Donna, in Middletown, brought a page torn out of a magazine to the Queen City Lace Guild meeting last week. Oh my it looks SO MUCH like tatting!!! AARp magazine Sept 07 issue, p67. The image on the back of this page is so beautiful I could see hundreds of tatting projects in it. It looks like there are butterflies and angels, doilies, and right smack in the middle is a little Celtic Knot skeleton.

Donna asked me if I could tat him, so I'm giving it a shot. While my skeleton above is quite different than the line drawing, after all it is tatting, it follows the design for the ribs and pelvis. I will try to get the legs tatted tomorrow, and post a photo of him when he is finished!

Since it's not Halloween yet, I guess he hasn't made it all the way back to this world yet.

Hugs,
Ruth

Friday, October 19, 2007

Tootie Fruity The Southern IL fruit bat - Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry, Rozella Linden

This cute little guy is tatted around a magnetic bead so he will stick to your refrigerator.
Kim Myers named him Fruity and he just had to have the first name Tootie. Presented in the online tatting class, and on the http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com/
Come check out the new podcast website I'm working on right now. http://tatting.podbean.com/
You can also visit my store for tatting instructions, and buy tatting books in the bookstore. Any tatting guild or tatting teacher who would like to do a podcast is invited to submit a proposal to be a guest presenter in a podcast.
For those of you who are not familiar with podcasting, go to http://apple.com/ and download the free itunes application and check out all the cool things it will do.
Lily Morales got me hooked on ipod last Summer between visiting with her great aunt and doing "Laundry". I'm really enjoying listening to the radio and the educational podcasts.
There weren't any "Tatting" podcasts, so someone HAD to do it. I'll be posting my first audio podcast on Monday, and starting video podcasts the first of the year.
Hugs, Ruth

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Tatted Butterfly Garden Copyright 2007 Rozella Linden


It's out !!!
Now shipping orders for my new book: Tatted Butterfly Garden

It is a 28 page half letter size (folded) booklet in color with instructions for 3 different flowers and 10 (or more different butterflies - the upper and lower wings are mix and match for lots more than just 10. Just for fun I included my tiny dragonfly and an easy Celtic ladybug.

Cost is $15.00 USD for 5.5" x 8.5" booklet, $20 for 8.5 x 11" large print edition, plus $2.50 shipping to US or $5.00 shippingworldwide.
The first 50 to orders will receive a surprise gift by email.

Hugs,
Ruth