POULSBO — At age 94, Ida Puzon spends a large amount of time in her rocking chair as her legs tend to disagree with the idea of walking. Her hands, however, are completely inline with her ambition of philanthropy.

Since April, Puzon’s knitting needles have been busy at work, stitching all different sizes of youth stocking caps for the kids at Dickey’s Orphanage in Lhasa, Tibet, in the People’s Republic of China.

“I didn’t know who would be getting them, I make them for whoever,” Puzon said. “To me someone can use them, so I will make them.”

Over the years, Puzon has offered the products of her pastime for premature babies at Harrison Hospital in addition to the heads of her 23 great-grandchildren. But the idea of sending a box full of warmth to the Dickey Orphanage came from a group of her friends who visited Tibet in March.

“It was very poor,” Nita Johnson, one of the idea purveyors, said of the orphanage’s condition. “The rooms were probably no more than 10 feet by 10 feet, if that big. There were really no toys, no windows and no heat.”

Yet Dickey’s walls are home to an ever-growing population of uncared-for Tibetan children. When Johnson and her group toured the country in March, she said there were 83 kids in the care of the orphanage.

Its efforts began in 2002 on the courageous shoulders of one woman, Tamdrin “Mama” Dadhon, who sold her family jewels and teahouse to raise the funds that started the orphanage. She and an eight-member staff take in and care for children whose parents have either died or abandoned them, according to the orphanage’s Web site.

Receiving financial support from local businesses and international donations, the orphanage provides lodging, tuition and medical aid to its children. No official government grants support the program.

“When I saw the need of these children, it was just so sad,” Johnson said, noting a Tibetan orphan who had taken affection to her and was showing her the ins and outs. “She took me to the kitchen and she was so excited to show me their food. Sitting in the middle of the (kitchen) in this bowl were bones from the knee down to the foot of yak. To be honest, I don’t think that whole heaping bowl of bones had more than 3/4 of a pound of meat.”

Despite conditions of deprivation, “they were happy children,” Johnson said.

She said the orphans seemed thankful for all they had, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for all that they didn’t. She wanted to help.

Upon her return trip to Poulsbo, Johnson relayed the story to Puzon of how the children were living in a building with no heat and a minimal clothing supply in an area that reaches average lows of 14 degrees during the winter.

And Puzon took to her rocking chair, going through nearly 40 balls of donated yarn, creating a care package of caps.

“Her hand has actually gone numb a time or two because she was knitting so hard,” said Puzon’s daughter-in-law Anita. “I don’t know if she’ll be able to stop.”

Once Puzon completes the batch of 83 caps, she is planning to send it out with a picture of her in hopes of receiving a picture back from an orphan with a brand new hat.

“Each one of them will be looking at the other and getting their favorite color,” Puzon said, imagining the scene of the package’s arrival with a smile.