Hi there, this is an idea that I’ve been toying with in my head for a while and I’d really like to put to you and see if any of you are interested in doing this.
The history or back story is that a few years ago I participated in a birthday gift along and it was so much fun. This was a big group of knitters that was divided up into smaller groups of 10-12 knitters and so basically each month I would send a birthday gift to someone in my group and then in September when my birthday finally came, I got all those knitting related gifts. I think I haven’t had so much fun or gifts on a birthday since I was a kid!!!
And so I’d love to do this again. I’ve been on Ravelry and I didn’t find any I could join nor did I find a Christmas swap or mystery Santa swap I could join either. I guess I’m a little late waking up to this as everything seems to be already closed for entries. So I thought maybe I could organise this myself.
So the idea would be for a birthday swap/gift-a-long for 2016.
How would this work? Well to begin with, anyone interested in joining please leave me a comment below and hopefully we’ll get enough participants to do this. Don’t worry about having to send out multiple gifts each month as my blog is still fairly unknown and read only by a select few knitters such as yourself:) Also, if I did manage to round up a huge number of participants I would divide them up into groups of 10-12 so you would be sending a gift a month on average. You would have to accept international shipping as my readers are from all over.
So if enough people are interested in joining, the next step would be for me to send out a mini questionner for each one of you asking for: your full name and postal address, information about your crafty life (are you a knitter/crocheter/spinner or maybe all three), do you have a favorite fibre/yarn/yarn weight/color? What sort of projects do you mostly do? Are you a gourmet (would you enjoy a little candy maybe with your knitting)? Do you read books and if so what type of books (mystery, thriller, sic-fi (we could include a paper back with the gift) ? Are you a geek? (Dr Who, Star Wars? etc
So a questionnaire so that the other participants can get to know you a little and better chose your birthday gift. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on each gift. You could gift a yarn from your stash, a paper back you’ve enjoyed but won’t be reading again, a set of stitch markers you made yourself and so forth.
I think we could maybe decide upon an approximate amount for each gift so we all “give equally” sort of. Also I could either open a thread on Ravelry to keep track and let you share pictures of your birthday gifts or we could do it here on the blog.
So what do you think? Would this be something you’d enjoy? Let’s say I give you until November 20th to think about it and then I’ll see how many are interested and could go on to making and sending out the questionnaires. (I admit that even if there are less than 10 interested I just might go ahead with it anyway just because I enjoyed it so much that I really want to do this again).
So think this over and let me know if you want to join. And remember, yes you do have to send a gift every month or so but think of all the fun picking the items for each new friend and last but not the least, think of YOUR birthday and all the goodness you can expect to get 🙂
On this note, I’ll leave you to contemplate my offer. Take care until next time
I am interested! I participated in a secret sister thing on facebook, but come to find out it was some kind of scam or something. Anyway, I hope my “sister” enjoyed her gift from me!! I do live in America, so maybe you could provide tips on shipping too. Sounds fun!
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YEAH! I’m so happy Sarah! I’ll count you in and hopefully a few more will want to join in too.
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I would participate! I’m a part of a sock swap which is international and it’s fun!
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Youpi! That makes 3 of us so far and hopefully more will sign up:)
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I’d love to do this! You may want to start a CLOSED group on Ravelry and send out invitations. This way- we’d have a place to post pictures when our gifts come; but you wouldn’t have to coordinate 10,000 people.
Also you may want to indicate shipping preferences. I don’t mind shipping anywhere, but some people may not want to ship to Canada or Australia… you know- things like that. Oh and allergies. I have a cat, and while he does not play with my swap items- a stray hair will probably ride with the package. Unavoidable.
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Great! I’m counting you in and yes I’ll open a closed group on Ravelry. And I’ll add something on the shipping and allergies as I too have cats:)
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I am interested in thinking about it – a new idea to me. I see other people’s swap things and think it would be fun, but a package a month might be tough financially.
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Ok take your time. We might not be 12 in the end…
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I’m definitely interested. Sounds like fun, even though my birthday is in November!
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Youpi! Happy to count you in ! My birthday is in September and even though the wait is long I’m fairly certain it will be worth it:)
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I like the idea, but I can’t swing it financially right now. Maybe if I am back to work before the new year!
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That sounds like a great idea and lots of fun. You should go ahead and do it. I wont join in, SA mail is not always reliable, and in a year anything can go wrong.
Have fun! 🙂
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Sorry to hear you won’t be joining but I understand- sounds like you have bad experience of the postal service over there.
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Am I still in time to join in this fun? I would like to join all this great fun and wonderful surprises, I love gifts and sending out gifts.I’m fairly new to knitting and crocheting compared to others but hope that’s ok? Only as some have mentioned already before, I think it’s important to also keep an eye on the financial part, to not make it too expensive. 🙂
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Hi Faesarah yes you are just in time and probably the last participant. This should be super fun, we are a small group so we will not be sending gifts every month. Thanks for joining and I’ll be in touch next week:)
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Ps- are you Icelandic or living in Iceland?
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No, sadly enough I’m not Icelandic nor living in Iceland. My husband and I spend 3 months in Iceland this year as sabbatical, a break from every day life. Our time there was amazing.. We kept a blog for family and friends back home. But I’m a Belgian currently living in Belgium 🙂
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ok just wondering as I’m Icelandic myself:)
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