Exchanges, exchanges

I've now signed my self up for two swaps before the end of the year. The Australian Knitters group on Ravelry has decided to do a tea cosy/coffee plunger cosy swap. I think we all got excited at the thought of doing a swap where we would be spending less on postage than on yarn. And then, being Australians, we had to take the p*ss out of the whole thing.

Look at the email invite:

The Swap is to celebrate the cuppa, the short black, that mugo'chino, with or without a squeeze of lemon. The celebration of the cosy will begin on Monday, October 15th, with all swaps to be completed by the end of the year. For the moment your gracious hostesses, webgoddess and zephyrama, would like to you to RSVP your intention to participate. All attendees must have an Australian mailing address and be prepared to sit down with a cup of tea and an iced vovo.

How it works: To sign up, simply leave a reply below with your answers to the following questionnaire. Sign-ups will end on October 12th, at which time we'll get busy assigning swappers and swappees. You'll receive your pal's information that weekend (hopefully!). The swap will officially begin on October 15th, and you've got til the end of 2007 to send off your package.

What you do: Basically, you make them something! Once you've been assigned a pal, check out their questionnaire answers to see what they like. Maybe visit their blog to get a feel for their personality. Then get busy knitting or crocheting them a kitchen item, whether it be a tea or coffee cosy, a potholder, or a washcloth. (Note: Knitting from your stash is highly encouraged!) Please do your best to stick to your pal's preferences. Your package should also include a few small gifts, such as tea or coffee, bikkies (maybe even ones you made yourself!), local yarns, whatever you like. There is no minimum spend, but we suggest a target of $20-30 in total. Then send it off to your pal by the end of the year, revealing your identity to your new friend!

Anonymity/privacy: It's entirely up to you whether you want to keep yourself anonymous til you send off your package. If you're happy to reveal yourself, you can send a message directly to your pal to get his/her mailing address. If you'd prefer to build some mystery, you can contact webgoddess or zephyrama and we can ask them for you.

Questionnaire:

1. Do you have a teapot or coffee plunger? Would you like a cosy for it? If so, please tell us the dimensions of your pot. Coffee plunger. Height 22cm; circumference - excluding handle 32cm; with handle 42cm. Handle is 2cm from the bottom and 8cm from the top (if you want to include a slit for it to poke out from). Please add a cm or two of ease!
2. Other than a cosy, what other knitted/crocheted kitchen items would you like? A nice thick pot holder that one can use to pull hot items out of the oven safely would be nice (if you make this please do not use acrylic yarn). Whatever you feel like knitting.
3. Theme/Style: Do you celebrate Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Yule/ hatever? Would you like your pal to knit you something in that theme? I'm a Hanukkah girl but anything that isn't Christmas-theme is fine.
4. What colour is your kitchen? Do you like tacky kitsch, classic styles, or something more modern? I don't mind Australiana kitsch but please hold the fun fur. General preference for blues and greys as the base colour.
5. What is your favourite blend of tea (or coffee)? Are you a sophisticated Earl Grey drinker, a hippy-dippy Chai lover, or a no-nonsense espresso addict? Mint tea; hot chocolate. (My husband is very picky over his coffee so I let him buy that on his own).
6. What's your favourite type of bikkie? Tim Tams
7. Any weird food allergies or preferences you pal should know about? Hold off on the strawberry tea and/or jam - I'm allergic to strawberries.
8. Any weird fiber allergies or preferences your pal should know about? I generally prefer natural fibres over acrylics. I'm not a fan of novelty yarns.
9. What city/state do you live in? Melbourne, Victoria

Looks like it will be a lot of fun.


Meanwhile, over at ISE5 it appears that matches are being sent out. I haven't received any details to date but apparently we don't panic until Wednesday; I'm probably in a group where the hostess hasn't beaten the starters' gun.

Fortunately with all this swap knitting coming up, I am getting to the tail end of my Dark Mark Scarf. I found the middle plain section very tedious - and so, it seems, did the original designer. It was great mindless tv/travelling knitting though. I have less than 80 rows to the end and suspect they will go very fast.

I'm really enjoying making this scarf and I love how it's come out but I have no qualms about handing it over as a gift. I guess I prefer the more pragmatic thick winter scarves to wear for myself.