Interview with Hannah of Spans' Stitchin'

Let's learn a bit about Hannah, host of the recent Granny Square swap. She's quite a crafty lady with a blog, a Folksy store and a flickr for you to visit and peruse!

SwapDex: Tell us a bit about you.

Hannah: I’m 26, soon to be 27 (but a little sensitive about that ;)) I live in Derbyshire in England. I am married have been for 3 years, but have been with my hubby for 10. I do not work at the moment, I was a librarian but had to leave about 3 years ago due to severe dizzy attacks. I don’t have any children but I have a cat called Gigi and a Bearded Dragon called Bruce.

I have tried a lot of crafts but at the moment I am addicted to crochet, embroidery, sewing and I have just learnt to knit.

SD: How long have you been swapping?

H: Because of the dizziness I don’t get to meet many people and when the dizziness started a few years ago I isolated myself from the world, not really speaking to or seeing anyone. However, when I started blogging I found that there are so many lovely people out there that I started to feel less isolated and swapping seemed such a great way of connecting with the people I had met online. It has done that and more. Because of the crafting, swapping and blogging I am feeling better in myself than I have in years.

My first swap was just before last Christmas when I joined swapbot to do the 3rd annual ornament swap, where you swapped 10 ornaments with 10 people. A big one to start with but I really enjoyed it. I was ill at the time and it was so nice to receive so many lovely ornaments in the post and I have even kept in touch with one person.

SD: What is your range of swapping?

H: Just recently I have just been swapping via blogs as there have been a lot that I wanted to join. I don’t have to know them, in fact I love joining and swapping with people I don’t know yet as I think it is a great way to meet people.

SD: Do you swap with any organized groups like yahoo groups, flickr, groups on swap-bot, other message boards, etc? Why or why not?

H: I have done a swap on the forum crafteroo which was a secret santa, it was a lot of fun. I was swapping on swap-bot but as there have been so many swaps via blogs that I have wanted to do I haven’t been able to commit to any on there for a little while now.

SD: What's your favorite swap you've ever been in or hosted?

H: I would probably have to say the secret Santa on crafteroo. I opened mine on Christmas day so I had an extra Christmas present, it was a lot of fun guessing who had sent what too.

SD: What do you do to make your packages special?

H: I always think it’s nice to put in something a little extra, usually buttons or something - every one loves buttons, right? ;)

SD: What do you think is the most challenging part of hosting a swap? Any advice for someone who is thinking about hosting a swap?

H: This is the first swap I am hosting so I am just learning myself, I would just say let as many people as you can know, if you are part of any forums or anything like that J

SD: Any exciting plans for the near future? Swaps, projects, new products?

H: There is so much going on at the mo, I am loving being part of the online crafting community. I have made a crocheted doughnut for charity that I am selling on folksy, I have also just joined a summer swap on wollywotnots blog.

I am also about to become an auntie, which I am very excited about so I am currently crocheting booties, hats and blankets like mad.

SD: Awesome, and congrats on the Aunt-to-be status! Thanks for chatting with us and best of swapping to you, Hannah.