Pukochan's Profile

Bio

I'm a spinner of yarn in more than one way. I spin yarn from wool, silk, and other fibers, and I spin yarns from my imagination: I'm an author of fantasy/romance novels. You can find my novels at http://www.karenharbaugh.com or ask for them at your local bookstore. You can find my yarn here at Etsy.

I've been spinning yarn for more than 25 years now, and writing novels for more than 10. Funny thing? I find that whenever I get writer's block or get stuck on revisions, a good fifteen minutes to an hour spinning some fine yarn gets me unblocked.

Of course, the amount of yardage I put out is a bit telling: the more yarn I spin, the more likely I've had trouble with my writing. Hmm.

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Update - An Experiment: Building an Orphanage in the Congo.

Total from sales and donations: $158.00. Total that our church raised to build the orphanage: $13,000. That translates into 5,000 bricks, 100 bags of cement, 10 windows, 25 loads of gravel, and 50 sheets of roofing!

Thanks to all who bought my scrubbies and yarn, as well as contributed supplies and outright donated; every bit helped to buy supplies for these orphans in this war-torn country. I want to give special thanks to PufPaff's Fiber Processing for donating some lovely roving to this effort. Their web site is at: http://fibermill.yurtboutique.com/

I've felt inspired by this effort, so will continue to contribute a portion of my profits from the yarn to the orphanage, as well as to other charities. I'll be sure mention what charity will benefit on each item I upload for sale.

As for the initiating 'experiment' see below:

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I’m trying an experiment. In November 2008 our church gave out some money ($5), in the spirit of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) to each of the congregants, and challenged us to use it in some way to raise money to build an orphanage in the Congo. I used the money to buy some Scrubbies that some of our women in our United Methodist Women make for our holiday fair, and then sold them.

But that’s not all. The parable tells the story of a businessman who gives three workers some money (talents) and tells them to do something with it. Two of them use the money wisely, and make double what they were given. The third socked his money into a hole in the ground and sat on it, because he was afraid to take any risks. The boss was not happy with the last guy.

I think especially in these days, we can sympathize with the third guy a lot. But the upshot of the story is, being afraid of using our abilities and talents, being afraid of taking risks with our talents, doesn’t do anyone any good. It’s important to take risks, even when our every fear tells us to hide our gifts, talents, and what we’ve got in a deep dark hole and do nothing. Creativity is about taking risks, even if it seems weird or stupid or downright wrong-headed. You have to give it a try. Most of all, you have to do your best to make it work.

Well, I’m going to do two things. The first thing I did was buy the Scrubbies and sold them. Second, I’m also going to use $5 of my own to buy some fiber here in Etsy, spin it up into yarn, and sell it here.

Whatever money I get, I’m going to buy more supplies here at Etsy, and then spin it up into more fiber, or knit something up, and sell it here. On theory, what should happen is that the overall initial investment should multiply.

I’m going to keep doing that until Christmas. Everything I make from those items I sell with the title “Building an Orphanage in the Congo” will go toward doing just that. No shipping will be charged.

You know what’s making me giggle like mad about this whole thing? If I buy the supplies from folks here in Etsy, it’ll not only help the orphans in the Congo, but it’ll help the hard-working craftspeople here in Etsy, too! The wealth gets spread all over! Is that cool or what?

I know it’s hard to think of charity when we’re staring at an economy that doesn’t look so great right now. But what this means is that the poorest of us all will be the worst off, worse than we can imagine. My husband’s in an industry that has seen layoffs in the past, and we may be looking at that again real soon. But we still have food on the table, and a house over our heads, and that’s more than what a lot of people have right now. We can afford to give, even if it’s a little, even if it means only the work of our hands. As my mother says—and she lived as a child and a teen through the Great Depression and WWII in Japan--if you have something to give, you’re richer than someone who can’t, because it means you have more than you need.

For more information about the orphanage, go to the following site:

http://www.pnwumc.org/missions/jaamaletunewsletter.html

and scroll down to Students of Jerusalem UMC School
in Lubumbashi.

I’ll keep a running tally of the money made so far on my profile page, and see how far I get until Christmas. Wish me luck!

What the heck, I'll do more--why not?

NOTE: For every sale in the months of November and December, 10% of proceeds will go to Building an Orphanage in the Congo, EXCEPT for the items specifically listed in the Building an Orphanage in the Congo category, where ALL proceeds will go to Hope for the Children of Africa mission. For more information on this United Methodist Charity, please see the following link:

http://www.pnwumc.org/missions/jaamaletunewsletter.html

Thanks!

--Pukochan (aka, Karen H)

Female, Born on July 23

Favorite Materials

wool, silk, alpaca, firestar, imagination