Hi there,
As spoken about on Instagram and on the latest podcast, the Small Gestures Swap this year will take the form of a Card or Letter swap and it is not being administered through the WoolWork r*verlry group
It can be a postcard, a letter, a Christmas Card, or another card which is not a religious-holiday card! But the idea is to connect with another crafty person this winter through old-fashioned snail mail!
I don’t know about you, but everywhere I go I pick up a card. I’m a big believer of the idea that if everyone who visits an art gallery or museum or a small business buys just one card they can help to keep that small business going.
Perhaps like me, you have a lot of lovely cards with meaning of a place or time, or you just bought them simply because they are beautiful. Perhaps – also like me – you buy these to send, but then decide they are too special! Now is the chance to share all of our special cards with someone else and send a few words of cheer and generally extend a hand of friendship through what continues to be a very odd year.
Please see the details on the form embedded below and if you are interested, please sign up by November 11th and I will aim to pair you up close to the end of November
After the closing date I will remove the form off the post. I will draw your attention to the note about data – I will only share your postal details with your partner and once the swap is complete I will be deleting all the data received.
I also really want to cement that this is a card swap. I know there will be people who might wish to send a gift parcel, but that isn’t what this swap is about.
Form removed – thanks for signing up
It will be wonderful to have a snail mail friend as I am housebound! Looking forward to hearing from you.
I loved your small gestures swap, and had to sign up immediately 😉 Sending cards is a great idea.
xxx
Cornelia
Great idea – I’m in
Hello from Canada. I read your post and thought what a lovely idea however the form was removed by the time I got to your post. I hope this is ok to share some thoughts about the gift of a card or a note. If not please delete.
Never doubt the impact of a note or a card. My parents emigrated from Ireland around 1948. Letters from home meant so much to my Mum. It was both a tie to her parents and news from home. I suspect it was a two way street for as we came along and the bi -weekly letters were chronicles of the children’s growth and development. Later on (under much protest) we too had to write to my grandparents. At that age who would want to carefully print out or use their brand new handwriting skills to tell unseen grandparents thank you for the Bunty magazine or hand knit sweater. I only met my grandparents once. Times were different back then and travel was very expensive. They left a rich legacy in their letters and by taking the time to write those notes or aerogrammes they kept the ties to the grandchildren as best they could.
I have a few of my late mother’s letters and now can envision how it must have felt to be so far from home and at the end of a day with a mug of tea at her side she would write to her parents. I try to continue that gift of a hand written note by writing to a few children that are in my circle. I get a lot of joy over their replies and drawings. We have great exchanges about cats, Harry Potter and whatever is of interest to them. It keeps us engaged and with distancing it’s a way of maintaining ties of love.
A note can open a huge world to the recipient and to the writer. It can also in the small gesture remind us about caring and humanity. Have a wonderful exchange!
Thank you for organising this swap. I received my small gestures card yesterday, from the other side of the world, and it was a lovely thing to receive something so beautiful and tangible from a stranger who is a fellow wool worker.
This is a distressingly disordered and difficult time for many people at the moment. Wishing anyone who reads this whatever brightness they can find (or offer) in any gesture, however tiny. Be safe. Be well. Be kind. And love local wool.