Signup for Secret Pal 4

After the grand success of the Secret Pals 1 program hosted by Sandy, Secret Pals 2 by Heidi and Secret Pals 3 by Kae - it's time for Secret Pals 4!
Based on operations and rules of the past SP programs and a bit of tweaking on my part, I’ve devised the following rules for SP4.
Please read these rules before agreeing to participate.

RULES

Deadline to sign up: Midnight EST Friday, January 21. Please note that even though you may have asked me for an email reminder for when SP4 would begin – you still need to officially sign up.

Matches will be Distributed: The week of Jan 24-31

Secret Pal 4 Dates: February 1 - April 30.

Who is this for?
Knitters and crocheters only please.

International Participation
The previous SP’s have been based out of the United States, however, international participates were more than welcome to join.

Your hostess this time around is Canadian so SP4 already has an international tone to it. However, seeing as the majority of individuals interested in this program are located in the United States, I will use the term ‘domestic’ to refer to the U.S.

If you would prefer to send to a pal who is either in the same country as you are OR on the same continent, please indicate when you sign up. Unfortunately, with the number of international participants I cannot guarantee that I can accommodate this request, but will try my darndest. If I can’t match you, I’ll let you know and you can decide if you still wish to participate.

Finally, if you are able to communicate in any language other than English, please let me know. I have a few people who may be more comfortable corresponding in other languages.

Blog
Having a blog (or website) is really important to participating in this program. This online journal is a great place for the SP who is spoiling you to find out who you are and what you like or dislike (do you like sweets? Are you allergic to specific yarns?). It also provides a place for you to publicly thank your SP when the packages start rolling in.

Blogs are simple to set up and to use. There are plenty of places out there to set one up, but I personally favour www.blogger.com. Your blog certainly doesn’t have to be a ‘knitting’ blog – just somewhere where your pal can find out about you.
I would like to make having a website or blog a requirement, but I realize that not all participants may be able to create such a page. If you chose not to have a blog – you will still be required to have an anonymous email address. (see below).

Minimum contribution:
$50 in US dollars over the course of three months. This can include the value of your time if you make something, and it can also include any postage costs. Establishing this amount should make it clear to all what a fair commitment should be, and no one should expect more, or less. $50 over three months is just $16.67 a month; if you feel this is too much or not enough, I'm sorry, this is not for you.

What to give?
Knitting and crochet-related items are great but not the only thing. If you've been following any web sites whose authors were in other Secret Pal programs, you'll know that people gave special bars of soap, cards, candy, and other nice treats to their pals. Just remember that not everyone likes to crochet, and not everybody spins...that's why it is a good idea to get to know your secret pal a little bit by reading his/her blog or sending a few questions by email.

Number or frequency of gifts, mailings, etc.:
This will be up to the individual. A suggestion is to send something at least once each month over the course of three months. Maybe a postcard the first month to let your secret pal know you're there, a small gift the second month, and a large one at the end? Or something big at first then several postcards later on? It's up to you. But do try to send something right up front so your secret pal is aware that you exist.

Anonymous Email Address:
You must set up an anonymous email address such as the free ones from Hotmail or Yahoo so that you can contact and be contacted by your SP buddies anonymously to find out more information about preferences. Make sure to check the account regularly; you might consider having that account's mail forwarded to your regular account so you don't miss anything. If you do this, though, don't forget to reply from the anonymous account!

What about a button you can add to your site? I don’t have anything yet – and I will try to develop something, however, if there are any volunteers out there who want to show off their graphic skills…I’d be more than welcome to use your SP4 button.

Bad Karma
I realize that life happens and sometimes people can’t participate in a program they initially thought they could.

If you find you cannot participate, you must let me know ASAP so that I can find a replacement. If after a reasonable amount of time, if you can’t come up with a good excuse for failure to hold up your end of the bargain on the Secret Pal 4 – you will be replaced and your name will be passed on as ‘blacklisted’ for hostesses of future SP programs. (And you risk bad karma).

If you have not received any word or package from the SP who is to be spoiling you, please let ME know instead of using your blog to blast that individual. SP4 is all about friendship and nastiness just makes it bad for all concerned. (And again, you risk bad karma).

Let me know, I’ll try to find out what happened to your pal and if they have flaked out, I’ll get you a replacement.

Good Karma
If someone does fail to participate as they agreed, I will remove their name from the participation list and replace them with someone else.
This means that I will need a list of ‘angels’ who are willing to jump in as replacements. As a replacement, you might come in after a package has been sent to the person you are replacing. This means you might not get 100% of the packages you normally would receive.

What you do get is my undying thanks, a warm fuzzy feeling and of course, good karma.

I will automatically start the ‘angel’ list with my own name, but let me know if you are interested and thank you.

Now that you've read all this, still want to sign up?

If you are ready to go – you need to send the following information to me at secretpals4@excite.com (if you have ANY problem with this email, try glacia@gmail.com)

1) Your full name
2) Your main email address
3) Your mailing address
4) Your blog/website
5) Your anonymous email address that will be used to communicate to your SP buddies.