I have written about a poverty alleviation project that I am working on before. I want to share with you a little bit about how I came to be involved with this project.
I started to knit about 6 years ago. My grandma Eckhart taught me. We had this great knit shop where I live that I spent a lot time at while pregnant. I learned a lot about fibers & knitting. About this same time I started reading a lot about Mt. Everest & the Tibetan culture and I fell in love.
I had heard about another woman starting an exotic yarn line to benefit some rural woman in another country in asia. I thought it was fascinating & became determined to do the same with my precious Tibetans. My heart is to bring economic stability to the families we work with, but more importantly to bring hope to families who have none. My prayer is that the women who spin & knit for us will come together & share their hearts with each other, building a connection of friendship & support. I have grown so deeply & felt renewed by time spent knitting with other women. I hope this connection will do the same for these women as well.
I had heard about another woman starting an exotic yarn line to benefit some rural woman in another country in asia. I thought it was fascinating & became determined to do the same with my precious Tibetans. My heart is to bring economic stability to the families we work with, but more importantly to bring hope to families who have none. My prayer is that the women who spin & knit for us will come together & share their hearts with each other, building a connection of friendship & support. I have grown so deeply & felt renewed by time spent knitting with other women. I hope this connection will do the same for these women as well.
I have never actually been to China or seen the Tibetan culture. I have been trying for several years to save up the money needed for me to go, but it seems that something always comes up to keep me from going.
I became in contact with a man living & working in China who is reaching out to the Tibetans. He is doing this through the start up of a yak yarn line. We met through a mutual contact & talked via email. We found that our hearts were the same.
Bret has been in China for over 7 years working on the background work that is required for starting a business in China. He needed help from someone who knows more about the yarn market & knitting. So we work well together.
We got our business license in January of this year. Currently Bret is learning how to dye our yarn with native plants in the area. So next year we will be able to introduce colored yarn to our line. Right now we have natural brown.
I became in contact with a man living & working in China who is reaching out to the Tibetans. He is doing this through the start up of a yak yarn line. We met through a mutual contact & talked via email. We found that our hearts were the same.
Bret has been in China for over 7 years working on the background work that is required for starting a business in China. He needed help from someone who knows more about the yarn market & knitting. So we work well together.
We got our business license in January of this year. Currently Bret is learning how to dye our yarn with native plants in the area. So next year we will be able to introduce colored yarn to our line. Right now we have natural brown.
There is a carpet company who also works in our target area. They have the same vision with their company that we have with ours. Bret is working on building a partnership with this company. They have been working with us for a year now doing what they can to help us get on our feet.
Right now we are in phase one of developing our business. We are working to perfect our yarn line, add colored yarn & obtain consistency with the spinning of our wool. Phase two will be working with some women to learn several knitting patterns. We would like to add some handknit items to our product line. This is the phase that I am most excited about. I am working on some knitting patterns for this phase.
Last week I received some great news! The carpet company that we are partnering with has agreed to pay for me to come to China! They will pay for airfare, my room & board, as well as paying me for my time there! I won’t be going until we are ready to start with Phase two of our project, but it could be as soon as fall of 2010. I am very excited to hear this news, but even more, I feel blessed by the God I serve. I am amazed at how big He is, yet how well He KNOWS me. How He know every desire of my heart. I would have been happy to travel to China & visit Tibet as a tourist, but my God, knowing my heart, has crafted this master plan with me in mind.
My God is good to me.
A frazzled mind « Between Hitching Posts said,
April 30, 2010 @ 4:11 pm
[...] projects that I am doing. I am a wife, and a mom. I homeschool our children, and I am a partner of The Rocking Yak. I try to teach art classes once a month, but am getting ready to do a week long art camp in June. [...]