Aloha!

 The word sutra, from Sanskrit, means "a thread," such as for stringing jewels or prayer beads.  It also carries the connotation of the word "story," the way we hear "tale" in the word "yarn."  It comes from the same root from which we derive the word suture, meaning "to sew," "to connect," and "to heal wounds."

 So this is my first blog ever!  I am ever so excited that it is finally up and running!  I wanted to basically give a run down of what my blog is about... 

     The whole point of this blog is to feature yarn, knits, crochet, and fiber.  The reason I wanted to do this is to show you guys what I do, who the person is behind the yarn, and to show you how you can spin your own yarn too.  When I started spinning there wasn't a lot of resources for the aspiring spinner, and especially living in Hawaii, sheep, alpaca, angora are rare, if not unavailable as well as the spinning/knitting community being very small.  I want it to be known, it doesn't matter how old you are, where you live, or how you are financially, you can spin your own yarn with unlimited possibility.  I started spinning in October of last year and fell in love.  I love how relaxing it is, the meditative state I reach when spinning.  And when you knit or crochet with your own handspun yarn, it makes it so much more personal than any commercial yarn could.
     With my blog I want us to spin a sutra-  I will share all the knowledge and resources I have in the world of fiber arts.  We will cover :

• Tools of the trade - Spindles, the Wheel, the Charkha, carders, dye, lazy kates, niddy noddies, etc.
• Fiber - Wool, alpaca, cotton, bamboo, silk, yak, cashmere, angora, etc.
• History of yarn and spinning across the world!
• Preparing fiber for spinning
• Drafting
• Dyeing with commercial dyes as well as Natural Dyes (things you can find in your own yard!)
• Spinning techniques
• Plying techniques
• Spinning lingo
• Finishing yarn
• Knitting (how to and reading patterns)
• Crochet (how to, reading patterns and making your own patterns!)

I will be posting up a video blog, hopefully tomorrow.  I'm super stoked about this!  Other things I am  excited about - crocheted monokinis soon to be on my etsy shop! rickikellystudio.etsy.com    Also, I;m really interested in finding an organization that helps women in third world countries by teaching them trades, such as spinning yarn.