Yarn remnants swap

This is a terrific swap. I do freeform knitting and crocheting so even small bits of fibre are great for "knitting in".

Also, great for getting colours that aren't your usual picks. Thanks for setting up this swap.

Freeform knitting and crocheting sounds really cool. Is there a page where you post some images of your work? If not, I encourage you to start a Flickr page or something, it would be fun to see (and maybe get some inspiration).

I am a fiber artist and have lots of great bits to share!

I have lots of great end balls of left over yarn but didn't save the labels. Will that be a problem???

Thank you for speaking out! It's about time we got into the recycling, reusing and saving this beautiful earth;global warming, gas emissions, and what about just stop wasting time and money! I love this idea and swap! I may not be the best ATC creator but I can sure knit a mean scarf, afghan or mittens!! Here in my town we have a couple groups that take extra yarns (leftovers) and create little blankets for the Humane Society and the other group knits and/or crochets scarfs and mittens for the homeless, school children and the like!

Whiskers, if you know what the fiber content is of your leftovers, you could just write that down and attach it to them. Or, if you don't, you could wait until you are assigned a partner, then e-mail them and ask if they have any concerns about unlabeled yarn.

I think it becomes an issue either if a person has any allergies (ie, to wool), or if they want to know whether something is washable or feltable, etc. But I will modify my description so it isn't quite so strict.

Somewhere I have a chart for doing a burn test on fiber to determine what it is. I will look for that and see if I can post that information.

Irisnquilts, I am with you on that. I much prefer to reuse what we can, and I enjoy art made from scraps and such. It is often more creative and interesting than art made from the latest supplies or readymade materials.

I am very psyched about this swap. I have been doing a throw where I just knit in a row of any yarn and it is so beautiful. I would be very happy to get a few small balls. I also hope I can remember the fiber content.

yay for new homes for scrappies. and yay for freeform. it's the only way. i'm too distractd for most patterns.....

I couldn't find my old textile book, but here is a Web site with information on doing a burn test. It won't help you determine between, say, wool and alpaca, but it will help you determine whether a fabric is natural or man-made, and I think you can distingish between plant fibers and animal fibers.

http://www.fabrics.net/fabricsr.asp

This is such a cool swap!I have sooo many leftovers.What fun!

Come and join us at the Project Spectrum swap! IF you dont know what it is, here's the website that will explain it to you!

http://www.lollygirl.com/blog/?p=585

ALY- Would you share a picture of your throw in progress and maybe tell us how many stitches you cast on, etc? Are you using any and all colrs? I've been wanting to do a scrap yarn throw and wasn't sure what size needles to use or how many stitches I shoudl cast. This is a GREAT idea!!! Can we specify a possible color range? THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

While of course you could say you prefer certain colors, keep in mind that your partner will be sending you yarn remnants from her stash and may not have those colors. But it doesn't hurt to state what your color preferences are. I suggest you do that in your profile so your partner doesn't need to check to see if you posted a message here. If we end up with a lot of messages by send time it can be difficult to find your request amongst them.

I have some allergy to 100% wool. Favorite colors are: blue and bright colors. However, I like all colors.

I am a newbie but I tried to fill out my profile well. I promise I will send stuff...I have a voucher! I did the one skein exchange last summer and I was really good even though my sender was not good to me :P

I am glad you have joined, newbies are definitely welcome here.

I want to remind everyone of the importance of checking your partner\'s profile before sending. We have at least a couple of people with allergies to wool and mohair, and I know you want to send yarn that your partner can actually use! If all you have is wool and mohair and you get a partner who\'s allergic to both (what\'s the chance of that happening, I wonder?), please contact me, maybe we can switch or something.

Let me join in here about the \"scrap throw\" afghan. A number of years ago, I made a heavy duty afghan out of scrap yarns. It started out as one color per stripe, then it got big enough I decided that it would end up long and skinny if I didn\'t do something. So I started making the yarn go around the entire thing, by adding two single crochet a space and 2 more single crochet in each of the corners. ( similar to what you would do for a \"granny square\" ). It now is a very colorful and very warm mostly blues and browns and creams throw that DH and I use on our bed here in Minnesota in the winter !

I\'m a newbie too but I filled out a profile. I love to knit and I have been knitting ATCs out of leftover bits of dish cloth cotton. I have tons of yarn, fleece artist blue faced leceister, lopi and recycled silk and bamboo yarn as well as lots of other stuff. I would love to get some more dish cloth cotton for my ATCs and I also knit dishcloths.

I have to drop out of this swap. I mailed off something at the post office today and realized that my enthousiasm for swapping was outrunning what I could afford to pay in postage:(

I took a picture of the throw I was making (finished now) and the new one I just started. I do not know how to post the pictures though since there is no gallery yet. I do not have a blog or web page. Directions though: With US 11 circular needles 29-36\" long cast on 100-150 stitches. Knit in garter (knit every row) changing yarn every row. Leave ends attached for fringe. Cast off when piece measures around 40 inches. I use every kind of yarn, fancy, fuzzy, shiny, thick, thin, etc. and it all looks great. I can\'t wait to show you.

Once the signup date passes we should have the option of uploading images into a swap gallery, at which time it would be great to share pix of our various projects that utilize scrap yarns.

Swap-bot does not automatically resize photos for you like Yahoo does, so please be sure that your photos are 72 dpi and about 500-700 pixels wide so that they will not be too big for easy viewing in one screen.

Sign me up! This will be super fun!

I\'m not allergic to anything, but would prefer natural fibers (although I LOVE ribbon/tape!)

I just want to ask about the wool allergy business. I do not keep the labels of the yarn I buy. I can guess but not be sure. I can also tell that some of my yarn is cheap (because it feels that way). I would not want to have to go out and buy new yarn because nothing I have meets someone\'s restrictions. Maybe (and I am not trying to be mean) people with a wool or other allergy should not be swapping yarn? I am hoping for a variety of textures, colors, and weights and would be a bit disappointed if none of it was wool.

Aly, I understand your concern. My intention with this swap is primarily to send off some of our extra yarn and get something different that we can play around with. I don\'t want it to be a pain and I don\'t want people to have really precise expectations and then be disappointed. A swap is a gamble, as I see it.

On fiber content: I realized after I initially specified that fiber content should be listed that we can\'t always do that. I have gone through my remnants and found that sometimes I saved the labels, sometimes I didn\'t. So I\'m not requiring that fiber content be listed, but it\'s good to offer up your best guess (see below for burn test link).

On allergies: Let\'s just play this one by ear. So far only two people have mentioned allergies to wool/mohair. I assume everybody who signs up has a variety of yarn remnants and can pick through their stash to select what to send. If you are not sure whether a yarn has wool/mohair in it and you are sending to someone with allergies, cut off a couple of inches and burn it, then smell it; if it smells like burning hair, it\'s animal fiber.

Here\'s the link to the burn test page, this is actually quite interesting and even kind of fun for your inner pyronmanic ;~)

On cheap yarn: I didn\'t mean to be a yarn snob, and maybe I\'ll even take that reference to \"no dime store junk\" out of the description; it\'s pretty subjective anyway. If the yarn was good enough for you, then it\'s good enough to send to someone else -- although I won\'t say: \"send what you would like to receive\" because I hope you\'ll send what you believe your partner would like to receive! However, we can\'t be expected to read our partner\'s minds, and I most certainly hope no one feels obliged to go out and buy some yarn to send!! That\'s not the idea at all!

This swap only asks people to send 100 grams or 3.5 ounces, that\'s not a lot of yarn (about one medium skein\'s worth). If you want to send more, great (postage cost may be a bigger factor here).

But you might also consider, if you see a message posted here by someone who seems to share your point of view about yarns, you could contact them through the Swap-bot contact form on their profile and offer to do some additional yarn swapping on the side. You don\'t have to be limited to the one partner you get assigned by Swap-bot.

Thanks everyone for all your thoughtful comments. I think this is turning out to be a really nice group of swappers.

Sorry that got so long, and now here I am adding something!

I meant to say that, if when you get assigned a partner you feel that you really don\'t have anything you can send to them, please contact me and I will either switch partners with you or work something else out (I have all different kinds of yarn--wool, cotton, silk, synthetic). Don\'t drop out because of anxieties about who your partner may be!

Hi, I am SO excited for this swap. I am dying to make a pair of (what I am calling) Pipi Long Stockings socks on my looms and can't wait to get more scraps so I can get going! And I make cancer caps and the kids like the multi color ones I have made in the past! YAY for recycling.

This will be great. I love sharing yarn as well as receiving. My favorite is feltable wool, the bulkier or irregular, the better. But, I like all organic fibers. I'm content with mini skeins or balls and they need not match.

Everybody's comments are great, and I enjoy reading them. But, remember to put any information about your preferences in your profile. Don't expect your partner to read through the messages posted here to find out if you posted a message about your preferences.

Thanks.

Sharon,

Thanks so much for being so thorough with this swap! It\'s great.

I would say that when we receive our partners\' names, and view their profile and there\'s no preference stated, we should take that to mean that \'anything goes\'! (This is what I\'m doing: I\'m just looking foward to getting a package!)

Thanks again for being such a great host! :)

Mel

Hey, thanks, Mel. I appreciate the strokes. I hope it goes well for all of us.

sharon

We should request that Swap-Bot put an 'OTHER' catagory so if people are prodimently 'knitting' or 'fiber' swappers... their like and dislike can be found there. Granted it would be nice to customize it better too, but then you get into datastorage and how much is available.

~Wierdlings

In the ABOUT ME section I added this... for this and future swaps.

Special Note: I have no allergies to any fibers or wool. I love all weights and colors of yarn or fiber and as far as color preference goes, I do not like pastels, but anything else goes! Thanks for checking!!!

Hi it's Bev from Australia This swap is great I'd like lots of different wool ends and what a way to get them.I knit ferrel berets ,here is the pattern cast on 100sts in 8ply main colour no 8 needles,cut all odd yarn into 30 to 60 cm lengths knit 6 rows in garter st.now using you odd bits and leaving the tails on the right side knit 10 rows next row increase every st knit 9 rows. Using main colour ' k2tog. k18' repeat to end.every alternate row k. Keep dec. 17, 16 and so on until 20 sts k 2tog until 10sts draw tog with needle and sew up sides

What timing! I am just this morning, sorting through yarn in prep for a pack/move (May). As an altered artist I'm always looking for new fibers to play with. Add crocheting and loom knitting - I'm hooked! LOL

Swap-bot isn't presenting me with the option to get the partners assigned yet, so I just wanted to let you all know that I will get that going as soon as it is available.

sharon

Hi. I just saw this one and I hope I'm not too late to get in!! My husband would be so happy to see me sending yarn from my stash "out" instead of seeing it coming "in"!!! I'm trying to convince him that our heating bill is lower because the yarn helps to insulate the house, but so far he's not going for it!! If I do get in, my favorite color is red - anything with red in it - any shade of red - or any shade close to red! I don't have allergies to anything that I know of and anything that someone sends me will definitely be appreciated. I'm not very picky and if it's not something I can use, then, I'll sign up again!!! I have been using my "odd skeins" of yarn (things I have left over from projects, etc.) to make knitted squares (I have a book with 100 knitted square patterns) and hopefully someday I'll put them into a beautiful, multi-colored, multi-patterned blanket! Thanks for considering me!

Umm... I did not receive my partner as of yet. Wasn't it supposed to assign them to us last evening?

~Wierdlings, the anxious

Partners are assigned now.

Swap-bot does not automatically assign partners, the host has to click to get it started. Since I went to bed early last night with a fever, I didn't do that until just now.

Happy swapping!

Hello Aqueoustransmegan,

I sent your package! Expect it in your mail on Monday or Tuesday.

Hope you like it! :)

Cheers, Mel

Sierra, your package is on it's way!

How dare you go to bed early with a fever ;) Hope you are feeling much better now. My whole household has been dealing with some kind of stomach bug and believe me, it has not been a "happy house"!!! Anyway, thanks for doing this swap - I am excited about it and appreciate that you are leading it. Have a great weekend!

Just got out of hospital - I'm fine, minor stroke. Fortunately I had my knitting and got out in time not to reneg on my swaps. I posted the photos of my throws. Thanks swappers!!

Sharon P, your yarn is finally on it's way!

mel-OMG! That is sooooo not 100grams of yarn! [in a good way] EGADS! WOW! That is like 1000grams of yarn! You are the BEST! as soon as rating is available I will give you a great big ole rating of greatness! You totally made my whole week-month maybe!

Hi Megan,

YAY!!! I'm so glad you like the package. :) Just getting your reply made MY day! :)

The only thing I ask is that you send me pics when you make something with the yarn. I love seeing other people's creativity. :)

Thanks again for writing!

Cheers! :) Mel

Um, Aly,

JUST a minor stroke?!?!? Thank g-d you're okay!!!

They do say knitting is very therapeutic - I'd say in your case it's literal! :)

Blessings to you, Mel

Aly! I am truly impressed -- people fail to send for some pretty weak reasons sometimes, and here you are recovering from a hospital stay and not missing a beat!

I think you get swapping MVP! (trans: most valuable player -- fyi, an American baseball term)

I only managed to sign up for several swaps with the same deadlines, including my own! But, luckily, it was all lightweight stuff, so I got away at the post office pretty cheaply today.

Katie, your yarn remnants are on their way.

sharon

Mel, I mailed out your package two days ago, I hope you like it and I hope it is enough, I had no idea how to know how much to send so I just put some in until the little box was full, if it's not enough let me know. I found more this morning I could have sent!

Thanks for the heads-up, AlwaysJoy! I can't wait to get the package! :) I'm sure what you sent will be great. :)

I got a lovely box of yarn from Sierra Cole today, including some that she spun herself, all neatly rolled into little bundles and each with a note tucked in not just telling me about the fiber content, but even a little more, here's an example:

"This is a yarn that I really love. I brought it back from Japan in 2005. I believe that it is a wool/silk -- the label is in Japanese!"

What a thoughtful package.

sharon

Lux2night, I got your beautiful yarn ball. Thank you very much. What a gorgeous skein of yarn. It has "make something for yourself" written all over it. I have a great idea in mind.

Hi AlwaysJoy,

WOW! Great package! Thanks so much for the little yarn treasures! I think my fave is the sparkly greenish/reddish stuff, although getting two full skeins of the B&W is fantastic! :)

Thanks again for a GREAT swap! :)

Mel

Oh yeah,

I forgot the mention the GORGEOUS ribbon yarn!! :) Thanks again!!!

Suzylucie, your package is on its way to Florida ; )

Ohhhhh I am so glad that you liked it Mel. I was nervous that it might not be enough, and that I don't know any fibers...

Nathalie,

I sent your package out today. I hope I did the postage right to get there within a week or so!

Scrappinceo your package is on the way hon! Hope you like em!

~Wierdlings

Thanks for the heads up on the package. I have packages coming from several places this week. It's been a loooonnnngggg weekend, waiting for monday to kick off a new mail week :-)

I posted mine on Saturday. kelly

Oh no, Always Joy, it was plenty! And I'm really good at guessing fibers, so that's not a problem!

Thanks again!

Dianna

Did you get my package? I sent it last week.

Anybody out there want some more wool? i am trying to reduce my enourmous stash. Some is nice but some is acrylic not so special stuff. Srnd me your address if you are interedted andI eill describe what I have, If you want to swap I am looking for littlr remnant balls of any variety.

BTW Did anyone see my throws in the gallery?

hey i was wondering how do we rate folks?

About 10 days after the send deadline, check back to this swap page and you should be able to rate people then. Swap-bot doesn't send out reminders when that option is available, so you have to remember to check for it.

Yes, Aly, I did see the pix of throws you uploaded, so sorry I didn't say anything. They look really cool, though I have to admit the second one is a little dark to see (kind of hard with blacks and greens, no doubt).

Hey, I should run this idea by you folks. I was thinking it might be fun to do a free-form knitters swap. You'd make something small to send to your partner, along with a note or a drawing about how you made it (wouldn't have to be step-by-step, because you'd be sending to another free-form knitter). I'm thinking that you could make a pin cushion, potholder, stuffed animal, cat toy -- that sort of thing. Something you could make with scrap yarn (maybe using some of the yarn you got in this swap, if you like).

Would any of you sign up for a swap like that?

elizabethofcourse

I received your package today! Thank you so much! I do believe I have a felted purse in the box. Picture the blue as the bottom of the bag (water), the green will be leaves of a tree and I have a wee bit of brown for the trunk and the main color will be the wool you sent. Or maybe it'll be sand...

Hmmm - can you see the wheels in my head spinning???

Thank you!!

CHY ! Hi "Neighbor !" LOL Your Wonderful package arrived at my house. Oh, my head is spinning with ways to you the great yarns. the "bits" will be going onto ATCs, I am visualizing a little tote bag with the others. And the red bundle is going to be going for something special !! I just love "fondling" them all! And the edgings book is just my style. I could have not asked for a better package! Thank you !!!! 5 hearts !

Hey, according to the list, everybody has sent! Could this be true?! Has everybody received something? (I realize that not everything may have arrived yet, of course.)

If, after allowing a couple of weeks for slow mail, you haven't received your package, please e-mail your partner and give them a chance to respond before rating them. Then, if you still don't get satisfaction, please e-mail me.

Thanks.

Sharon

I might be interested in the freeform knitting swap but I have to admit my knowledge of freeform knitting is limited to what i saw on an episode of knitty gritty. how freeform do you have to be? Im not sure if freeform just means knitting without a pattern however you like or if it necessarily means knitting lil mosaic pieces....could someone explain it out for me before I say yay or nay

Hey Weirdlings!

I got my AWESOME package today. Thanks for the extra goodies. An over-the-top swap. Blessings! Kel

Still waiting for mine. My send-to partner is in England, but I paid extra to get it there faster from the US, so she should have received it or should get it soon.

aqueoustransmegan- freeform is just that, free form. Some do patches, some linear, some completely random. You can plan it or just crochet or knit whatever comes to your fingers.

I got the MOST AMAZING swap package from Sandy. OMGosh she spoiled me so much. Everything was amazing, and I am so happy. My knitting kiddos were thrilled too and my son has already laid claim to one of the skeins. Thank you again!

Thanks, Bren, for answering aqueoustransmegan's question about freeform knitting. I would just add that I would consider it freeform even if you started with a pattern but then made it into something different. That's not the same as inventing something entirely from scratch, and I don't mean to get into copyright issues, but I think if you credited the original source of your inspiration or starting point, and then said what you did differently, that would still be OK, more or less.

So, I am probably stretching the definition a bit, and perhaps there is a better word to describe inventive original knitting/crocheting that would include both pure freeform (by which we might mean without planning it out first) and something that you planned out before starting, but it's still your orignal work, and then creatively adapting a pattern made by someone else.

So, is there a handy little term that would encompass all of that?

I got my yarn today from Bev in Australia. You should have heard the shriek from my youngest daughter! She loves the pink color.

Sharon P- I don't know. It's all freeform to me, whether it's customized, re-invented, reconstructed, redesigned or creatively knitted/crocheted. I don't follow patterns to the "T" because a. I am too cheap to get the exact yarn, fabric, etc., b. I ran out of said items and need to finish it with something, or c. I just don't like the pattern the way it is and change it to what I want. I do give credit where credit is due.

Hi its Bev I have just been reading about your chats on free form knitting . I have a book on it and what you do is knit or crochet a small bit then in diferent yarns and stitches add to it on any side. when you have a piece about as big as your hand or so start another one . you then sew them together into jumpers or what ever. Its fun to do and is really beautiful

Now that sounds like a very exact definition and a fun idea at that. I would be inclined to call that "patchwork," I think. I can picture a really cute little tote bag made that way, with maybe a fabric lining for stability.

So, I am inclined to think that for the purpose of the swap I would say it's for any kind of inventive knitting/crocheting where you don't strictly follow a pattern, or maybe don't use a pattern at all, and it would include true "freeform" (aka "patchwork" style) as well as other original work.

Now I have another question. I have been learning about swap scammers and I think a swap like this might really appeal to someone who is thinking they could get something for nothing, so I think I would have to be sure to have some strict criteria for participating. Like at least one 5 in a swap that requires knitting or crocheting something (or people who did this swap and got a 5), or references (like a Yahoo or other group host, or a partner in a swap that isn't up for rating yet), or a link to a page where they have photos of stuff they made. Any suggestions?

I am fairly new , can you tell me if we swap with each other or a different person . I sent to Bren but she has said her send to person is in England I thought I would receive from her. cheers Bev

Swap-bot assigns partners in round-robin fashion, so you do not receive from the same person you send to.

Now that it has been a week since the send date, you can find out who your partner is, when you come to this page, look in the yellow box at the top, you will see a line that says "rate the partners who sent you stuff." Click on that and a small window opens in which their name and Swap-bot name appears. Since a week may not be enough mailing time, please don't give a "1" (no send) rating yet, but instead contact your partner to find out what's up. You can do this by clicking on "view complete list of particpants," scrolling down till you find their swap-bot name, click on that to be taken to their profile, and there you can send a message. It sounds like a lot of steps as I describe it, but it's really quite quick and easy.

Bev, your partner is in the US, by the way, so it could easily take more than two weeks to receive your package.