10 great reasons to get an iPad if you are a rug hooker

I waited until March of 2011 to purchase an Apple iPad. I ordered my gadget early on the release day of the iPad 2. Since then I have found many reasons why a rug hooker should have an iPad.

Lightweight and very easy to carry. You can load up movies and survive that airport delay on your way to rug camp.
Organize your photos and have them on hand. If I need to see a photo of a pine tree I can call it up on my iPad and have it sitting right next to me for reference. Don’t have a pine tree photo in your collection of photos? The iPad 2 has a camera.
Jayne Hester introduced me to Camera Fun. It is a free app you can download.
I especially like the sketch lens. When you take a photo, it translates it into a sketch. Sure would make pattern making easier. This is a photo I took at Manistee, MI after a lunch presentation.

rug hooking lunchroom — Photo taken from my iPad using the Camera Fun app and the Sketch filter. While this is handy, it does not help you to understand your pattern like tracing it from scratch does, but it is a quick way to get a rough draft.

The app Camera Fun is no longer available for download. Research what is out there and find tour favorite app.

I use Doodle Buddy for drawing simple illustrations and have not had to resort to napkins in months. Sometimes the only way to get your point across is with a picture. It is my most used tool when I am teaching. I can even save the drawing or email it to the student.

Quick drawing made to illustrate what packing looks like from the side.

And the best part . . . you shake it like an Etch-A-Sketch to erase it!

There are several apps you can use for alarm clocks. For rug camp you will need the usual morning alert, but later in the day you may need a reminder for lunch, wine time and dinner, some of the more important parts of rug camp.

I can listen to radio stations that I could not tune into clearly otherwise. I use the I Heart Radio app.

I was collecting a lot of fingerprints on the back of my iPad. My daughter recommended Gelaskins.

Click on the box below to go to their website. You can skin your phone, iPad or computer. Just pick out your equipment, upload your own photo, or use one of theirs and complete the sale. A package arrives in just a few short days. It applies like a sticker and according to the website it is removable, but I haven’t tried taking it off yet. It is now September and mine has been in place since April. The edges are tight and I love having a photo of one of my rugs on the back of my iPad. It makes it uniquely my own.

GelaSkins - Protection with Style. Not Bulk.

You don’t want to drop your newly acquired iPad.

I love my Padlette. It straps on very quickly. I can carry the iPad safely without fear of dropping it and without the dreaded “thumb cramp.” Click on the box below to get your own from Amazon.

I can take credit cards (with a wifi connection) and the fees are lower than even PayPal-and no monthly fee. I use Square. It plugs into the headphone jack on my pad then after opening the free app, I can swipe the credit card. My customer signs the iPad with their finger or a stylus and enters their email for a receipt that will not get lost. You can sign up for this program and use an iPhone or Droid phone also. See their site for more details. I’ve used it for several workshops now and my only concern is losing the tiny gadget. After looking around their website I saw a place to order a free spare!

Surf the web. I keep up with blog posts using the app Mobile Rss. I can read a dozen websites and keep up with the happenings in much less time. It even keeps the stuff available for off line reading so you can even read blog posts while you’re stuck at a railroad crossing.

Angry Birds is awesome in the larger format.

It is just plain fun!

OK, so that is more than 10 reasons but I bet you can suggest even more. Add your comments if you’ve found a use for an iPad.

What did I get? I like the black instead of the new white border. I did not get 3G and got the wifi only because most hotels have wifi. I ordered the one with the largest storage so I would not outgrow it quickly. By the time I need more storage, Apple will have added new features that I don’t even know I need yet.