Swaps, surprises and the joy of giving

 Everyone loves getting a parcel!

But a lot of the post I receive on a daily basis is pretty boring - bills, glossy ads from companies I once patronised, lenders pressing me to sign up for yet another credit card and unsolicited charity mailshots.  Most goes directly into the recycling bin.  I love getting packages in the post and that's what first made me curious about swaps. 

I signed up to the Perfect Strangers swap when it began in 2013.  Throwback to a younger me!  At the time I was subscribing to Oh Comely magazine which organises this on-line event. 

Here's some of  the goodies my American swap partner sent me.  I never took a photo of the contents of the parcel I posted to the States - I only know I enjoyed assembling the contents and wrapping them up in the knowledge they'd make someone, somewhere smile.  The downside was that the postage cost me more than the contents were worth!  Hey, ho - you live and learn.

The following year I signed up again and you could tell your partner a little bit about yourself and what you liked.  You could also choose to have a partner in the same country as yourself so postage costs were more manageable.  I knew my swap partner was a young woman with a sweet tooth who liked Disney.  Here's what I sent to her.

I crocheted her a scarf...

... and must have mentioned that I was a knitter as here's what I received.

Two years ago I took part in two swaps for knitters.  I'd started listening to knitting podcasts around that time and was enjoying being part of the crafting community on Ravelry, the world-wide on-line go-to site for knitters, crocheters, spinners and dyers. I joined the groups associated with the podcasts I liked and followed the discussion threads.  

The Caithness Craft Collective podcast is hosted by lovely Louise Hunt, who I've been lucky enough to meet, and she organised a swap where you had to make a decoration and include something for the other person to make or do.  Here's my parcel contents, destined for Oregon, including the crocheted Christmas tree I made, one I bought and some Scottish bits and bobs - a calendar and National Trust tea towel.  I also included a wee kit to sew a felt gingerbread man and some stickers.

Caroline, my swap partner, blew me away with her thoughtfulness, even including some treats for our pets.  I got a Christmas themed project bag, handy snips, glitzy tape, a pad of postcards to colour in and a multi-tip gel pen.

But it was her handmade item which nearly made me cry - hand knitted bobble hat bunting!  How cute is this?

Another Christmas swap  from 2015 was coordinated by the Shinybees Podcast, hosted by the inimitable Jo Milmine for her listeners.  This time the swap was yarn related and all participants had to upload a photo to reflect the colours they liked.  

Unfortunately, I didn't keep note of what I sent to Katy from London but she saw my inspiration photo of a vibrant tree in spring and sent me this gorgeous zingy hand-dyed yarn from one of my favourite indie dyers, Jess from Ginger Twist Studios.  Katy also included a Christmas tree decoration and family favourite Lindor chocolates. They didn't last long as I remember!

These swaps were such fun that this year I decided to take part in the Caithness Craft Collective Podcast swap once again.  My partner this time is Laila from Denmark and we had to make, or buy, a decoration to fit with our partner's holiday traditions and tell them about where we live.  

A few days ago my parcel arrived from Laila containing the most beautiful natural Christmas tree decoration, a handwritten note about Laila's home and some delicious mint chocolates.

I had real fun making my decoration for Laila.  Following this cute pattern by Sarah at Imagined Landscapes, I followed her pattern modifications to knit Santa-esque Gnicholas Gnome.  In fact, I may have made more than one...

Gnicholas was accompanied on his journey to Denmark by some Scottish soap, tablet, biscuits and a key ring.  I also enclosed a tourist map of my village and a personal letter.

Swapping with a stranger I have found over the years to be a heart warming experience and there's as much to be gained from the act of giving as there is in receiving.  Making something personal for my swap partner is something I enjoy, as is finding appropriate little gifts for their parcel.  I love wrapping the items carefully so the package is pretty.

I will treasure my new Danish tree decoration from Laila and hope she likes her knitted Scottish gnome.  They say 'it's better to give than to receive' and I couldn't agree more.  (but getting stuff rocks too!)

Purpose

It's my first post of 2017 and my word of the year for 2017 is 'purpose'.

I chose a word for 2016 and that was 'kindness' - you can read about my word choice here. 

As I wrote when I chose my word last year, New Year resolutions are often broken a few days into January but a word is just a word.  I'm not making a promise to anyone or saying I'll do anything spectacular.  I'm just creating a focus for the things I choose to make and, who knows, perhaps for my life in a wider sense.

So, what about my word for 2016?  How did I incorporate kindness into my crafting and what happened as a result?

I contributed two crocheted squares to this Kindness Blanket Project I saw on Instagram.  The predominantly blue blanket was being created by Sarah-Louise Roberts to raffle in aid of Mind, the mental health charity, and her colour choice reflected the charity's logo.  Sarah-Louise received enough squares following her Instagram appeal to make two blankets, one of which is pictured above, and the raffle raised an excellent £604 for Mind when it was drawn in May.

I knitted a few hats to give away to different causes.  Two premature baby hats went to the Special Care Baby Unit at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness following an appeal by Louise on her Caithness Craft Collective Podcast and which I handed in at Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March.  The pink hat went into my Christmas gift shoebox for Romania, an initiative undertaken every year by my local church.  I made a couple of hats for fishermen, the black and maroon ones pictured above, to send to The Mission to Seafarers but will wait til I've made a few more before I send them off.

I crocheted a sheep for the Yarndale Wooly Sheep Project after reading about it on Lucy's Attic24 blog. Yarndale is an annual fibre festival held in Yorkshire each September.  This creative community project in 2016 saw all 700 of the donated knitted and crocheted sheep from 32 countries being sold in aid of Martin House Children's Hospice and raising over £3100.  Each sheep received was documented and recorded on a set of Pinterest boards here and I was able to find my wee sheep amongst them in the top row of this board.  Hope someone is loving owning her!

I donated these knitted mice to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home as toys for cats awaiting rehoming and received a lovely letter of thanks from Joe at Supporter Services.

My final make for charity in 2016 was a hot water bottle cover for Knitaid following an appeal by Helen of the Curious Handmade podcast.  She released a free pattern so that covers and bottles could be sent to Knitaid as part of their consignment of warm knitted goods to help refugees in Greece.

I'm also counting gifts I made for others as part of my 2016 personal kindness project.  I made and gifted these three crocheted shawls.  I wrote about the Thousand Kisses Shawl (pictured left) here and the Fortune's Shawlette in the middle, here.

And here's a round-up of all the other knitted items I made and gave as gifts this year.  A few of the hats and neck cosies appeared here in my previous blog post as I knitted them for Christmas.

The big picture shows a hat I knitted for my friend Vicki and she's wearing it in the wee black and white photo.  Her hat is made from Wool/silk from the Dye Ninja that I purchased at Edinburgh Yarn Festival and is gloriously soft.  I also love the pattern Koru by Truly Myrtle who, like Vicki, is from New Zealand.  Designer Libby (aka Truly Myrtle) says 'The lace and cable panel is reminiscent of New Zealand’s baby ferns, delicate and gently uncurling.' 

Finally, I made a wee hedgehog for my brother-in-law... because... he likes hedgehogs.

And if that isn't a kind thing to do, then what is?