Keeping and giving

Several decades ago I was the proud owner of a Singer SewHandy Electric Sewing Machine. It looked just like this.

Photo (C) Bruce Williams (handymanhowto on Etsy) - Used with permission.

It was "a toy", but it really worked. It was electric! It didn't have a bobbin and it made a chain stitch, so it was so easy to "un-sew" when a mistake was made. But at some point I stopped using it. I outgrew it. My mother had a sewing machine and she generously allowed me to use hers.

Every year when we did spring cleaning, clothing and toys that I'd outgrown got packed up and given to families with younger kids. The only thing I ever begged to keep was my SewHandy. It seems selfish and immature now. The SewHandy sat unused for a very long time. I don't know what eventually happened to it, but all those years that it sat unused in the storage room, some other little kid could have been using it.

Unfortunately, there are still things in my life in storage that go unused. I'm not talking about cones of yarn. (They are either marked as inventory or as materials for my work.) There are many other items. But I'm glad I didn't allow the green, sparkly yarn to stay hidden in storage. True, I had put it to good use at one point, but 11 unused balls of this lovely yarn sitting in storage are no good to anyone.

Almost two weeks ago I offered the Platina yarn for sale to benefit New York Cares. Sincere thanks to all who purchased this beautiful, green sparkly wool yarn from me and many thanks to those who contributed directly to the organization. A donation of $63 was made to New York Cares yesterday, the proceeds from the sale of Platina yarn. Additionally, a few of us made direct donations to the organization. Our contributions are specifically in support of post-Sandy relief, which is still so very much needed weeks after the storm. Yes, I had hoped to have sold all the Platina during this mini-drive. And yes, I was hoping to hear of an onslaught of direct donations as a result of my last post. But as I made this recent contribution online, I was reminded on the donation page that every dollar donated "amounts to $6 in service to the community". I'm glad that our contributions can do some good.

Platina yarn

There are still 4 balls of yarn left. 100% of proceeds derived from the sale of these last four balls of yarn will also be donated to New York Cares. And please remember it's no too late to make direct donations of time, money, food and clothing.

To all who contributed, through yarn purchases or directly, you guys are awesome! Since we didn't have enough participants for the giveaway this time, your virtual tickets will be placed back into the virtual hat for the next giveaway, sometime in early 2013. Thank you.

Next post, it's back to knitting. I plan do some sewing, too!
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ETA
Received a tweet back from New York Cares!

@ojollyknits Thanks for the support!
— New York Cares (@newyorkcares) December 6, 2012