Itty Bitty Witty Knitties is a cottage industry based in my itty bitty dining-room in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The knitted swatches and mini-quilts are handmade by a group of about a dozen deaf women who participate in the vocational training programs of Asia Project Grace in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in south-central China.  Heretofore denied access to any education and unemployable due to their handicap, they are now being taught Chinese sign language, live in comfortable apartments, make a living wage, and are provided with retirement funds and health insurance. 

   My brother, Dr. Rob Cheeley, has lived in Kunming since 1992, and is the founder & director of APG, which does humanitarian mission work in a dozen areas, including agriculture, leprosy, community and business development, education, medical and dental work, prosthetics, AIDS education, and orphan foster care. 

   My mother, my son, & my friends, Mollie & Cindy, do most of the assembly work at card tables in their living-rooms; my friends, Paula & Carol, volunteer their tax & best business practices expertise; and my brother, Chris, provided the start-up funds in an effort to support Rob’s work in China. I have the creative fun job of making up the sentiments, that go with each card.

In February of 2011 the general management of Itty Bitty Witty Knitties was passed Oscar Haupt, who plans to “grow” the company.  Oscar will take care of all customer needs, billing, shipping, and production.  I will still be creating new card sentiments, and consulting with Oscar during the transition. 

Oscar is an entrepreneur:  a social worker, and an importer of Chilean arts and crafts, selling the goods at Fair Trade shows around the country and through his website Fair Trade Import Business.  He and his wife, Penelope, also established a Non-profit Foundation, which supports a girls’ orphanage in Valparaiso, Chile.

Thank you so much
for your Support and Interest
in Our Cards !