Oriri Draco is Latin. Roughly translated, it means Rise Dragon, as in to rise up, or to be born. The name was ‘born’ when I needed a new internet handle; I wanted one that would reflect the starting over and changes I was going through at that time. It was a time of rebirth, of growth and letting go of the past. Eventually, Oriri Draco came to symbolize a fulfilling of potential and not holding back on dreams and goals, of finding the power and strength from within to go on against odds, and to do so with grace and confidence.

How Oriri Draco became Oriri Draco Design is a bit of a longer of a story; eighteen years and three generations long.

I am the third and youngest living generation of crafters on my mother’s side. My grandmother sews at the professional level, though not professionally. I have never seen straighter seams or more beautiful embroidery - she is a genius with a sewing machine and serger, pattern or not. My mother did her share of sewing and fiber arts - weaving, macramé and our doll outfits - but her brilliance is in her art and sculpture, her eye for form. She is an incredible jeweler with a sense of color that amazes me constantly. She sculpts in silver more frequently than potter’s clay now, though she was a professional potter as well. She actually does a bit of everything, and all of it well. I’ve tried to learn from both of them, and would not be or know what I know if it were not for their tutelage, guidance and patience.

Me, I’m just a knitter with 18 years under my belt. And casual web designer, with an eye for color and shape, and a love of elegance and grace. I will be the first to admit that I have expensive taste. I like black with silver. And reds and blues and jewel tones. And contrast. And subtle details. I like the classics, the things that don’t go out of style. On top of that, I’ve had one type of needle or another in my hands for as long as I can remember; but knitting is my favorite.

After all of those years of knitting, I had gotten the hang of knitting fast. The speed itself wasn’t a problem - how much yarn I was going through however, was! When I could easily spend over $100 a month buying yarn, my husband started getting worried. I did too. That is a lot of money for our budget! So I had the ‘bright’ idea to sell the items I knit, when they aren’t for family. The dear husband had his doubts about this plan of action- not that I blamed him. What was the point? It’d be great to support the habit, but wasn’t my time worth something too? Oriri Draco Design was born.

Except, yarn at retail prices is STILL expensive! And the amount I’d have to mark up an item to make it worth my time… I had doubts I’d sell anything! Wholesale yarn, that’s it! Brilliant idea! Except I got the cold shoulder from most yarn makers when they found out I wasn’t a large shop. Apparently small business aren’t worth their time. They didn’t have all the colors I wanted anyway, and if I was going to design clothes, I needed the colors I wanted or the designs would flop. So I turned to hand spinners. The problem here was that I needed thousands of yards of yarn, and that is a LOT to ask of a hand spinner.

So I asked for a spinning wheel for my birthday. I ordered merino, silk and SoySilk roving. I read everything I could get my hands on about spinning and fiber. I brushed up on color theory, started keeping tabs on the fashion world. I started writing down patterns, color combinations, what I wanted to do, what I thought I could do, what I wanted to change, what I wanted to make my own. Thank heavens for large hard drives!

I got my spinning wheel in February of 2007 - and I just about threw it out the window the first couple of times I used it! Not one to give up, I made a few modifications, and before even I knew it, I had something recognizable as yarn! Hooray! Down side? Getting good enough at this spinning thing to be able to knit ‘designer’ items from my own yarn was going to take a while, and I couldn’t keep buying pounds of fiber to learn to spin and not actually use the yarn for something productive. The yarns weren’t bad, just not the kind I needed for the patterns I had. Well, it’d be a shame to waste all that beautiful silk and merino yarn… someone was bound to want it! And they did! So I’m selling yarn now too. And I found this fantastic company that will sell incredible fibers to me wholesale… it doesn’t get much better than this!

I’ve got some other ideas in the works too, outside of design and yarn, but related all the same. It’s immensely satisfying being able to put all the creative energy towards something other than cleaning and drawing trains for the kids, no matter how much fun I have doodling with them. To tell you the truth though, a 96 count box of crayons and three kids can be an incredible source of inspiration!

Peace and knitty,
Oriri (: