Or not. Apparently I'm not very good at magic yarn ball swaps, at least not on Swapbot -- both of my magic yarn ball swap partners gave me ratings of 3. The first one I was late on, so it's true I didn't meet that requirement, but it doesn't exactly encourage me to send my late swaps. My reward for finally sending something is that rather than no rating (which doesn't hurt my overall rating), I get a worse rating than I had before? It's more truthful, but could easily make someone less likely to send late swaps when the recipient didn't leave a bad rating to begin with -- so overall, that truthfulness might be worse for the Swapbot community. I mean, would you rather receive a swap late, or not at all? Neither one is ideal, but of the two of them, I'd much rather get a surprise late swap than never receive a swap at all.
And today I got a three rating -- that means "didn't meet swap requirements," by the way -- from my spinner's magic yarn ball partner because my first attempt at art yarn was, admittedly, not very arty. (See previous posts on the topic. ;)) I did send a letter explaining it was my first try and even explained how I thought it would come out differently and had been a learning experience, but I can't exactly say it was unfair to rate me like that; my giving an explanation doesn't mean she has to like what I sent. It's also a fairly honest rating since the swap was meant for funky art yarn spinners and I guess I had no right to learn a lesson without producing something suitably funky as a result :P, but I am disappointed in my partner. She seemed like a positive, encouraging person, and I'd been planning on sending her some of my first real art yarn. I'm also a little sorry I sent that yarn at all, rather than some crazy overspun hurried singles that looks inherently funkier. Possibly the more hurried yarn would have been appreciated more, and it's a little sad to think that my yarn isn't being loved and cuddled. That was even my first two-colored two-ply, and I sent it away because I was sure it'd be appreciated anyway. Dangit. Maybe I should offer to send her some more if she sends mine back, because I truly, honestly don't want her to have yarn she doesn't like. I think maybe I *will* email her and say that, actually.
Guess I should avoid the magic yarn ball swaps in the future. :P I really enjoy magic yarn balls, but apparently others don't enjoy my efforts as much, and that is unfair of me, isn't it?
