In case you are interested, I have a list of things sent/owning on the bottom of my profile.

I'm here mostly to swap ideas (for handmade items), not stuff.

So, for most public and group swaps I sign up hoping to get to try something new, and also that I get some new ideas in exchange. That means, if you are sending to me, don't be afraid to try something new. I'd love to look on an item you made/sent and think "oh wow, what an idea! I would never have thought of it!". If it meets the swap description, no matter how unusual the interpretation, it is a fair game (although, if you are afraid that I may not understand how exactly it meets it, you could add an explanation, so that I could feel the wow at once, not after confusion and PMing).

For swaps that require writing something (a note, a letter) it means that, given the content is the same, there's no real difference for me whether the letter is handwritten on pretty paper or printed on plain printer paper. There's no reason to apologize on the second case as some people have done, really! Actually, as I'm not a native English speaker, I often find printed text (especially in plain font on plain white paper) easier to read.

It also means that I am not so extremely fond of receiving extras - I have lots of stuff already, and as I said, I am much more interested in the idea behind the swap items than getting more stuff. Extras do not affect how I rate you, anyway.
Also because of all the drama surrounding extras, I don't send any extras myself - I do not want to make my partners feel like they are under pressure to give a heart, and if they won't who knows where I will go and complain about rude people (not that I'd do that, but how would you know?). So - no extras, no pressure on my partners, that's the way I think. ;)

Another thing that my not caring much about stuff means is that I don't really lose any sleep if you send your swap out late or not at all. On the other side, I lose no sleep over rating accordingly, either.

I'd also rather not get angel packages, unless you allow me to angel something for you, too - I feel uncomfortable when receiving but not sending myself (or when receiving too generous packages).

I strongly disagree with the "send what you'd want to receive yourself", so don't be afraid - you will not get maths problems from me unless that's what you'd want to receive, too. (whew!)

Work: teacher of a mathematics hobby group in local school, checking tests&homeworks for my husband.

Home: husband and two sons (born March 2002 and March 2004); no pets (unless you count free-range spiders).

I am Estonian, my husband is Latvian, children speak both languages (well, so do we). We live in a townlet near Riga, the capital of Latvia.

About My Username

"Paha siga" in Estonian means "bad pig" - from a story of a piglet whining that he cannot burrow as either his snout is mangy or ground is frozen, resulting in a saying in Estonian said to people who complain about something and find fault with all solutions offered as well. I was often like that during my second pregnancy and to warn my fellow chatters (you know, trying to find solutions for someone just wanting to whine gets both parts angry) I changed my nickname to paha_siga on these occasions. Afterwards I stuck to it as it was far more original than previous nick.

This little pig in my avatar I crocheted specially for using as an avatar. I wondered after photographing whether I should find her now another use, for example, as a pincushion (making her therefore a porcupine - direct translation from Estonian would be "thorn-pig") but a friend told me that she looks more like a sad pig than a bad one and it is obvious from her face she knows about my cruel plan to stick needles into her. Now she lives in a tin cake that @dreamerkins made me for a swap and works occasionally as a model for my swap cards. :)

If you find spelling my nickname too difficult, you may just call me piggy. :D

Two crafts I feel most confident in are knitting and crocheting. But I also do now and then a bit of sewing, play around with polymer clay, and actually like to try a bit of everything.

So as to give you an idea, what I do and on what level, here's a list of what I do have and use:

• knitting needles - circular and double-pointed mostly, of 4-5 different sizes, enough for most of my projects, only I cannot run several of the same size at the same time - that's probably only good for me as it makes me to actually finish a project ;) ; two row counters; I also have some stitch markers and a good needle holder thanks to @AmandaLee
• crochet hooks - about 8 of them, I think I have now all sizes covered; and crochet stitch markers from @Toupti 's etsy shop
• lots of yarn, too! - both my mother and sister have brought me their leftover yarn, hoping I'll find use for it... good thing my mother gave two baskets as well!
• I also got some raw yarn... I guess I should do some knit/crochet washing-machine felted thing, or do you have some other idea? I have no spinning tools, but maybe I'll try weaving them?
• wool for felting, felting needles and felting pad
• a sewing machine (currently out of order), needles and threads and fabric; I also have a bunch of synthetic felt
• lots of embroidery threads
• a set of Knifty Knitters (thanks to @luvcatzzz - I wanted them for my grandmother (now deceased), currently not in use
• various beads, cheap hooks (no real silver stuff etc), wire and such, and tools
• Fimo polymer clay, a roller, three cutters, a bead roller, some molds and a varnish; @dreamerkins sent me a clay machine, yay!
• two children weaving looms [one (newer!) of them rather sucks]
• one children DIY kit with pottery wheel (not tried out yet)
• a bit of stickers and over a dozen paper punches, although I'm not into paper crafts at all (they are mostly for my children) - I admire people who can make wonderful collages, but I just can't myself
• brads and a setter for them
• some fabric dye, fabric paints, fabric markers, candle paints, ceramic markers, Hama beads - all these tend to be seasonal hobbies and/or to be done together with children

Most probably I don't even know what I'm missing, so if you read this list and think of something I miss, you should tell me! ;)

Nässu

In the start of 2009, I knitted a bear who spent over two years traveling mostly within Estonia. Now he/she (we never came to decide) is living in Tartu Toy Museum together with all the things our craft forums hosts made for it... and, it seems, is now traveling around together with museum workers. That bear! I don't know how it manages!!

Colours

Pretty colours: black, white, red, blue, yellow, green, terracota, grey, silver, beige

Ugly colours: pink, orange, purple, golden, dark brown, muddy colours

That's just my personal opinion and doesn't include things that are in their natural colour - I'd rather have pink than green pigs, thank you. ;) If you make an ATC trying to convince me that pink and brown is actually a pretty combination, it's fine! I also have no problems using "ugly" colours when making something for others.

I'm fond of...

• mathematics (especially algebra, combinatorics, logics; not very fond of analysis) - got my M.Sc at last on 30.08.2010!
• logic puzzles - I visit Killer Sudoku Online and KenKen daily, plus all those little puzzles that can be get from here and sometimes JigSawDoku; although I must admit that now I got a subscription of a puzzle magazine for Christmas, those others are rather on background.
• Comics strips I follow on gocomics: Adam@Home, Agnes, Basic Instructions, Boomerangs, Calvin and Hobbes, C'est la Vie, Cul de Sac, Daddy's Home, FoxTrot, Garfield, Heart of the City, The Meaning of Lila, Nest Heads, Neurotica, The Norm, One Big Happy, Pickles, PreTeena, Red and Rover, Stone Soup, Tiny Sepuku.
  I'm sure you can draw some kind of conclusion about me now. I'm not sure I want to know what that conclusion is.
• maps and floor plans, incl fake ones
• playing with my garden, especially theoretically - I am not so fond of decaterpillaring
• reusable produce bags - I use some pretty gift bags made of see-through fabric, as I suck at sewing myself
• tiny flat borderless stickers, especially animals (say, like Sandylion's)
• if you are a native German or Russian speaker, I'd love to get a note/letter from you in that language (preferably typed) - I have learned both languages as a child, but have forgotten a lot because of seldom having to use them
• ...

Wasted on me

• Extras "thrown in" "for hearts".
• Knickknacks - my son has dust mite allergy, so we don't have any place to display them.
• I'm way too bad in papercrafts to have any use of paper scraps, ephemera, and other such things.
• Of jewellery, I already have all rings I'd wear anyway.
• My husband doesn't like food coming through mail from strangers, so please don't send me edibles.

Last update: Apr 21

Currently in mail:

• nothing*

Note that Latvia uses "DD.MM.YYYY" date format, so postmark "11.10." is October 11th, not November 10th.
If you want to check my sent dates, anything with customs form has the date I gave it to PO both handwritten by me and printed by PO; anything that I can drop to box will be taken out next workday around 9 am, so will be marked 1-3 days later.

Non-rated swaps:

I have promised to send:

• a newbie-trial-art-journal and a couple of dragons to Loonstruck

I'm waiting for:

nothing