I've done it again.

I'm not sure why, but every now and then I find a swap of some sort that I just can't resist joining. I think it's a "feel good" thing, a need to "share", that makes swaps so attractive to me. And then there's the sweet suspense of opening my mailbox to see if my swap partner's package for me has arrived. I mean, who doesn't like getting a surprise package?
In spite of all the "feel-good" stuff, I've sworn off doing swaps after every swap I've swapped in. Swaps wear me out...well, with one exception; a lace scarf I just finished for someone in Ireland. Maybe I should stick to knitting swaps.
For some people, doing the swap thing is quick, easy...fun even. For me, it starts out that way and I tell myself, 'THIS time, I'll keep it light, I'll have fun', but it doesn't take long for me to take a "fun" thing and turn it into a major deal, the meaning of life; it's just the way I am. I get an idea. I spend way too much time finding just the right materials. I start. I stop. I change my mind. I get another idea, trash the old idea and start a new one with different materials...all the while, the mess involved grows and my other projects get neglected, and instead of being the "fun", "easy" project I'd hoped for, I've created a "problem" to be solved...then the "deadline" kicks in, and what was supposed to be a joy has become a chore, and I've got no one to blame but myself, and that's when I swear off swapping 'forever'. But I forget.
So I've done it again. After more than a year swap-free, I've done it again, I've joined a swap. This time it's a pincushion...but it can't be just any pincushion, oh no, it's got to be something 'different', something 'special', something that will make it 'memorable' for the recipient...at least I hope it's memorable, and in a good way.
So that's it, I've joined a pincushion swap and my pincushion is going to look a little like the papermache figure in the photo, but with a pincushion for its body instead of paper and glue. At least that's the plan...so far.
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