Why We Swap
By Caissa "Cami" McClinton – 8 CommentsI am in a really cool group on Ravelry.com! The name of the group is Lion Brand Swaps. I was attracted to the group because I love Lion Brand yarns and someone invited me to join.
Because it was Lion Brand, and the people were nice, I felt comfortable enough to join and participate in my first craft swap. To make sure it was fair to everyone, we had some requirements about what to send. We each filled out a questionnaire about our likes, dislikes, and wishes. We were each assigned a partner and set off to “stalk” our partners. (We were just looking at their projects and their Ravelry queues to see what they liked! It was not scary stalking!!) We corresponded with our partners, and we also chatted happily on the swap thread.
I have to say, participating in a swap was exciting then, and it still is today. There have been times when I’ve felt that I hadn’t sent enough in the package. I remember one swap where I got a box loaded with goodies and I’d sent very little. I was a little embarrassed, and I learned to be more creative within my budget for the future. I reminded myself that I swap to connect.
Don’t get me wrong, I love goodies! But there are lots of goodies in this world. Why wouldn’t I just buy my own? Why swap? Again, I swap to connect. I love the friends I’ve made through Lion Brand Swaps. Now I am even a co-moderator with a good friend, Sheila. We work hard to keep the swaps fun and create a welcoming community for our members. Yes, we know that sometimes people will take advantage of others’ kindness and want to receive without giving, but we are on top of that.
It makes me so happy to swap in this way! Have you ever participated in a swap? If so, how did it go? And why do like or dislike swapping?
I swap and Crochetville and enjoy it when I have the time to make the commitment. It works well when everyone is commitmitted, it is harder when people want to swap, but don’t have the time and still join and then don’t really put in the effort. Recently I haven’t had the time to make as much so I haven’t been participating in the swaps at the last half of this year. I don’t think it’s fair to the person on the other end not to put in the effort and only meet the minimum.
I think the joy is in the giving, not necessarily the getting. It’s nice to know people get something they might not have treated themselves too without a swap. I like getting to know people through swapping.
I am on Swap-bot and I agree the joy is in the giving not the getting. I have been very happy swapping here as you can swap just about anything and I usually do the greeting card swaps and a few of the knitting/crochet swaps. I joined one that made granny squares and made an entire afghan. It looks so pretty with all the different color squares, knowing that they came from new friends.
Currently I am in the midst of a swap on Ravelry Freaky Amigurumi swap. THis will be very fun… I am also doing one off of Facebook with a bunch of Crochet Crafty gals there..
Craftster is another fun place to swap.
IMust admit that I hav no knowledge of the swap thing. I will be checking it out now. Thank You! Happy Holidays 🙂
I love swapping crocheted items! I am a co-admin of a crochet swap group on Facebook, and I am making friends and having fun while increasing my crochet skills. The group is Blazing Hooks Crochet Swap, and to be accepted as a member, you must first join our main group, Blazing Hooks.
I’d love to do some swapping. Ladies maybe you could share some sites with me? I’ve done all kinds of swapping a long time ago. I did the YK2 ( or is it Y2K ? quilt sqs and blocks) , granny sqs (crochet), Xmas quilt sqs, airplane quilt blocks, Applique blocks etc. I’d like to start again. Like i don’t have millions of things going. The replies are giving me ideas again.
Rachael Thanks for all the tips and patterns every month. If anyone would like to share sites with me please give them my email address.
Oo, these swaps all sound really fun! Stella, just look at the comments here, and you’ll get some good ideas! 🙂 So far I’ve only swapped on Ravelry, but these other sites sound great, too. 🙂