Let’s do something small, together, to make our lives just a tiny bit better

Please meet: the Swap Shop for Handknits & Crochet

Sweaters I’ve made in the past three years (or so) that have become regulars in my wardrobe. Not pictured: the sweaters that didn’t quite hit the mark.

One of the best things I did last year—the thing that generated a groundswell of good feelings that stayed with me long after the event—was my Swap Shop.

It’s like a free eBay for knitwear—and now for crochet, too.

Many of us reviewed our knitwear collections and identified a few pieces we no longer wore—and over 30 beautiful handknit sweaters, shawls, and other items went to new homes.

When I looked through my own collection, I found a few sweaters that didn’t fit my body or my style. My friend Tyne contributed shawls she no longer wore because her tastes have shifted to non-superwash wools, and she had fallen out of love with the speckled superwash yarns she loved years earlier. Another knitter realized she loves making cowls but doesn’t really wear them.

We all have beautiful knitwear that deserves to be worn more, but for a host of reasons, it just doesn’t make it into our regular wardrobe rotation.

I learned from the slow fashion brand Pareto that US women wear only about 20 percent of the clothing they own. I wear a much larger percentage of my knitwear collection, which makes me happy, but I still have beautiful, unworn pieces.

The Swap Shop for Handknits & Crochet is about re-homing our excellent items and feeling wonderful because someone new is going to treasure them.

Clothing is so personal, and it should also be joyful. It’s how we present ourselves to the world. It’s an outward view of how we feel inside.

Think of the excitement of binding off a sweater you’ve been working on for months. I always feel a sense of accomplishment and pleasure when I weave in those final ends and soak and block my new garment. I love to marvel at what my hands can do.

I love to wear that new item of clothing. I love its new clothing feeling on my body. I love the zing of excitement of a new outfit, a new color, a new garment. In spite of all this—a thoughtful making practice, deep skills in sweater knitting, and a knowledge of yarn and fiber—I still have unworn sweaters and unworn knitwear Maybe you do, too?

It’s okay to make something and realize, sometime down the line, this item is no longer one I want in my day-to-day wardrobe. It’s okay to hang onto it for sentimental reasons. And it’s okay to re-home it.

What has always been hard for me is finding a new home for knitwear I wanted to re-home. The Swap Shop has changed that for me—and for a few of you, too.

Christina is now wearing one of Tyne’s shawls, and it’s so gorgeous on her. I love that this shawl is now in her knitwear rotation. Another one of you is wearing a sweater I made, keeping her warm and loved as she re-enters the workplace (a library!) after a period of focused caregiving. I love that something I made is helping keep a librarian warm because librarians are on the front lines these days: helping get diverse books in the hands of kids and holding open a true community space.

There are so many more stories like this, and you can be part of it!

How to get started

I am willing to bet that you, like me, have handknit hats, sweaters, shawls, and other things you don’t wear. Maybe it’s something that doesn’t fit your current body. Perhaps it was a project you really wanted to knit but discovered you didn’t actually want to wear. Maybe it’s a sweater that’s too warm for your climate. Or, like me, you really like knitting hats but don’t find much occasion to wear them.

Going through your knitwear can be as big or as small of a job as you have time and energy for.

It can be a comprehensive job of pulling out all your knitwear, trying it on, and assessing the fit and style. Or it can be as simple as opening a drawer and finding one or two items you know you don’t wear

I often stall out on even attempting a project like rehoming my unworn knitwear because I either don’t know what to do with the unworn items or don’t like any of the options. The Swap Shop has changed this for me, and I hope it will change this for you, too.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Swap Shop is a perk for paid subscribers of this newsletter.

• Items will not be for sale but gifted. Recipients will pay for shipping.

• Because recipients pay for shipping, we can include everyone anywhere in the world.

• Paid subscribers can submit 2 items gratis, and you can list more than two items for a few dollars each. (This covers my time to create the listing and do the matching.)

• Once we have completed the “clean out our knitwear” phase of the swap, I’ll take a week or so to turn everything into shoppable listings, and you’ll be able to peruse what’s on offer via a section of my website.

Some of the beautiful shawls that were contributed to our swap last year.

It’s time to look through your knitwear & crochet collection

1. Take a few minutes over the next week and identify two items you no longer wear.

2. Upgrade your subscription to paid. (A reminder that if funds are tight, you can request a one-year (free to you) community-supported membership here. No questions asked. If what I’m doing, and how we are building community, feels like your people? We got you.)

3. Be on the lookout for next week’s newsletter, which will include all the specifics about how to give me info about the item. (If you’re the kind of person who likes to read ahead, you can submit details about the item here.)

That’s it.

Next week, I’ll walk you through how to give me details about the item and ask if you need more help from me. I offer a concierge service available for people who just want to mail me the item and have me handle photographing, measuring, etc.

Then, in March, the Swap Shop will open, and we’ll all get to peruse the lovely knitwear and select something new for our collections.

You don’t have to contribute something to claim an item, so it’s not a one-to-one swap. It’s a community swap. Those of us with knitwear and crochet to contribute do just that. And those of us who want something are free to claim.

I can tell you with great confidence that it feels terrific to clean out a few items of knitwear from your closet and to know that those items are going to someone who will wear and appreciate them and give them a good, long life.

We don’t often need to do the Big Thing to feel good. Small things can be just as meaningful. Like sending a handknit sweater to someone who wants it, or reclaiming a small bit of space in our closet.

PS: I am so excited for this new round of the Swap Shop! The news and world continue to be grim, and I love the idea of doing things like this with this newsletter (and my business platform in general) that are small, tangible ways to connect us and make our lives just a tiny bit better. I hope you’ll join me!