Summertime Swap

It's that time of year again. The Annual Dishcloth Swap on Ravelry is upon us. I love this swap! I've been participating for six years. My friend, Eve is in charge of this exchange of beautiful, hand-made dishcloths. I usually help out by offering my dining room table on swap day.

Here are the details: 

IN A NUTSHELL: Send 5 dishcloths (same pattern, various colors) with one SASE to the address below by August 25th. Receive 5 different dishcloths back. No signup, no obligation - if you make it by the deadline, you are in; if not, then there is always next year. Now read the details:

THE RULES: Signing up: There’s no need to sign up or notify anyone in any way that you intend to swap. Have your dishcloth at the destination below by AUGUST 25th, 2017 and you’ll be swapping. If you don’t have them there on time, they’ll be returned to you. We love you to participate in Ravelry group, but it’s not a requirement.

YOUR DISHCLOTHS: Each participant is required to crochet or knit 5 dishcloth/washcloth/spa-cloths in the same pattern. Please do vary the colors as you see fit. 

Please be sure your cloths measure between 6x6 and 9x9 inches square or 6 to 9 inches in diameter. 

THEY MUST BE WITHIN THESE SIZE PARAMETERS OR THEY WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU. 

Label each dishcloth with maker and care instructions. Feel free to include yarn and pattern info. Affix the label with a safety pin or tie it on. No straight pins, please.

YARNS: 100% Cotton or cotton blend yarn – 100% cotton yarn is awesome and is used often for dish/washcloths. Blends are great too but they need to be at least 50% cotton and contain no animal fibers. 

Linen and hemp yarn – These yarns are yummy and last FOREVER. Feel free to use these yarns =D 

No boucle yarns – This stuff is awesome but not for dishcloths. Its spun a little to loosely to take the abuse that dish/washcloths tend to take. Save this yummy stuff for hats and baby blankets! 

Worsted or DK weight – #4 and #3 weight yarns make very scrubalicious washcloths. They clean well and they rinse and dry well when using this weight yarn too. 

Colors – Gooooooo nuts! Solids! Variegated! Striped! Neutrals! Brights! Muted! Its all good =D 

These are absolute requirements and if you don’t follow them, you won’t be able to swap.

THE ACTUAL SWAPPING: After the dishcloths are received, your hosts are going to get together and have a grand time looking at all of your gorgeous work and selecting 5 different beauties to send back to you.

The goal of this swap is to produce and receive little pieces of fiber art. Use beautiful yarns, color combinations, and patterns. Don’t feel pressured to use teensy little crochet cotton. Thicker cottons like Tahki Cotton Classic , Rowan Cotton Glace, and Elann Sonata make great washcloths. Have a ton of fun.

POSTAGE AND ENVELOPE: US participants need to include a self-addressed, postage-paid, large First Class Envelope (SASE). Please do NOT use those super-bulky 1/4” thick full-of-shredded-insulation type envelopes for the SASE, as they will cause over-weight and require extra postage (the envelopes themselves weigh 3 ounces or something ridiculous). Best are plastic envelopes or Tyvek®-style (though NOT the free priority ones the PO provides). Please put the P.O. Box address (PO BOX 1492, La Canada Flintridge, CA 91012) as the “sent from” address on the SASE. Do not leave it blank - the USPS will not accept a package without a return address. AND, if the return address and the mailing address are the same and the postage is short your package will get stuck in the DEAD MAIL box (details, details…I know…snooooooze).

The current first class rate for a large envelope weighing up to 13 oz. is $ 4.35. We will make sure all packages stay under 13 oz. so that we’re sure your postage is covered. You will have to purchase the stamp(s) to cover this.

Also, as much as we love people sending us cash, do not send cash for postage instead of buying your own stamps. Your return envelope should be complete: mailing address, return address and adequate postage.

Non-US participants 

Please see our Non US shipping page for details.

We’ll need to receive your dishcloth/washcloth/spa-cloth by August 25th, 2017. Please mail them to:

Swap Headquarters 

PO BOX 1492 

La Canada Flintridge, CA 91012

Also please include your Ravelry-name on the outside of the envelope that you are mailing all your stuff in. That way we can keep an easy list of whose package arrived and you can see when we got your package.

INSPIRATION AND PATTERNS: We have a page and a thread in the Ravelry group for pattern and yarn suggestions. Please add to it!

QUESTIONS: Feel free to post in the discussions section. PM one of the mods of this group.

TAG for projects in this swap: Annual-DC-Swap

LOOK at all of those dishcloths I've made in the past six years! I've received that many and MORE back. It's so much fun on Swap Day, piling up all of those beautiful dishcloths for distribution. Usually, Lisa, Eve and I have a very difficult time deciding who gets what! We try to be fair.

2016 Swap Committee, Diane, Eve, Lisa, Ellen

I'm not sure which pattern I'll use for this year's swap. There are TONS of free patterns available on Ravelry for knitters and crocheters! JOIN ME this year. It's so much fun!