Fall swap fun

Swapping has long been a crafting tradition. As far back as the 1840s women worked together to create Friendship Quilts for family and friends. Each contributor made a block of the quilt and typically wrote a message or inscribed a favorite quote, or simply signed their name. Some quilters were bravely collecting fabrics in the thousands to create Charm quilts (small pieced quilt with no repeated fabrics). In order to collect enough different fabric, swapping with friends and family would have been another means to acquire additional unique fabrics.

While I could not find a history of swapping knit items, I suspect that squares for friendship/charm blankets could have been one of the earliest types of knitting swaps. As well as perhaps swapping small bits of yarn with which to create one owns unique Charm blanket (such as the now popular The Beekeeper's Quilt).

Enter Ravelry in 2007 and swapping has a new internet forum. As fiber enthusiast flocked to join, they created and joined interest groups centered around favorite designers, yarn, shops, and other interests. The earliest "swap" specific groups were formed in July 2007,  with a few of them still active today.

Hopefully I've not bored you. This was the 20th swap I participated in. All but a few of the swaps were mini-swaps. Typically consisting of one crafted item, a treat and a card. Although a few included multiple crafted items tied to a particular theme. Those were certainly more of a challenge, both in stretching my creativity and the time commitment. Mini-swaps are my favorite. Quick and easy, yet fun to participate in.

For my swap partner I knit up three dishclothes using Kris Knits Autumn collection (available on Ravelry) in Knit Picks Dishie. Details are on my Ravelry project page. Including photos of the awesome quilted mug rug that I received. 

If you enjoy making dishclothes, I highly recommend both the themed collection and using the Dishie yarn. Not only do they make nice gifts, they are really nice to use as well.