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Built for Ombré

August 17, 2016

There are lots of lovely knitting patterns out there that would look gorgeous in ombré yarn, but one of the things we’re seeing on trend lately are patterns actually designed for ombré and gradient yarns. Not just any pattern will work; to really take advantage of ombré you need a pattern that will allow you to use at least 85% of your yarn, thus showing the full colour transition of the skein. So, while many patterns (particularly shawls where the size is adjustable) will work – today I wanted to blog about designs built specifically to take advantage of gradients.

©judymac21

This is the Kallara shawl by Ambah O’Brien, and this knitter has used one skein of seafoam and one skein of ecru to do her version. I love how the gradient looks within the stripes, and there are so many ways to play with colours!

©Shadystroll

This is ‘Changing Light‘ by Jennifer Weissman. Worked from the centre outwards, this shawl gives a palindrome effect. This would work with two skeins of DK weight in the same colour way, allowing you to ‘mirror’ each side of the shawl.

©Knittingvortex

‘Vamping‘ by Jennifer Dassau is a gorgeous knit in this intense gradient, but would also be lovely in a gentle colour like Berry Vanilla or Willow. I love it so much that this will be my road trip-to-Festival-Twist knit for this weekend!

©Laura Aylor

How classy is ‘First Point of Libra‘ by Laura Aylor? I would love this in ecru paired with seafoam. I know we’re not carrying our neutrals at present… but they’re coming back, I promise!

Lastly – this is the Inara shawl by Ambah O’Brien, knitted by @knitleyroad in ‘Feather’ and ‘Seafoam’. So many of Ambah’s designs lend themselves to ombré, I’ll have to knit one of these myself!

Are you a knitwear designer with a love of ombré and an idea for a design with The Blue Brick yarns? Sketch your idea out and write to me, I’d love to partner up on new ideas!
Berry Vanilla Shawl Pattern

August 16, 2016

Is available! In our store, and on Ravelry! Lovely and textured, baby-soft in our Niagara MCN and easier than it looks once you get used to those cables. Please note that it’s only charted at the moment, though I am working on fixing that. Enjoy!
Berry Vanilla Party & Rae Winner

August 15, 2016

What a fabulous, if hot and sticky/torrentially rainy day!

There was everything. Jeremy, the cutest puppy ON EARTH, kittens, cupcakes, yarn, berry vanilla scented goodies, attempted theft of said puppy, lots of knitting, knitters, fibre’y goodness, prizes and even a quasi wet T-shirt contest… all packed into one humid yarn store. We couldn’t have asked for better, and feel so grateful to the ladies of Yarns Untangled and all the fabulous knitters who came in to support the day. We love you!

And we have a KAL winner! Raveller myriadflowers, who used Daisy for her Rae and uploaded this sweet little shot! I’ll send you a Rav message with your prize details :)

Speaking of gratitude, I can’t express enough how wonderful it was to see so many knitters participating in our very first KAL – seeing all the projects daily gave us the major warm and fuzzies. Thank you all for your support!
Inara Wrap

August 8, 2016

Check out this lovely thing knitted by Stephanie B – it’s massive. Using one skein of Niagara MCN Feather, and one skeins of Niagara MCN Seafoam, this Inara Wrap by Ambah O’Brien is to die for!

I’ve decided to make my own; I’m thinking Longbeach and Peggy’s Cove, or Seafoam and Heron – what do you think?

Today’s KAL Winner is Jennifer O.! Jennifer, I’ve sent you an email with all the details :)
Free Pattern – Tito

August 5, 2016

My darling hubby, Tito, is the other half of The Blue Brick, and he loves a good slouch hat, so this one is for him :)

Who doesn’t love a good slouch hat? Sure, it’s 30 million degrees in Toronto right now, but I’m already thinking of comfy autumn staples. This hat is an easy, one-size-fits-all, unisex weekend knit, perfect for showing off ombré!

This hat uses just one skein of The Blue Brick Escarpment DK, and is a super simple, unisex, weekend knit with just one quirky detail to keep it interesting; Estonian (or lateral) braids. Full directions are included in the pattern, and it’s really easy and fun once you get the hang of it.

Did I mention that the pattern is FREE? =D Ravelry page here!
A Berry Vanilla Party!

August 3, 2016

Be prepared for an egregious number of exclamation points, because that’s just how excited I am.

I’ve been working on this super secret project behind the scenes with my dear friend Michelle of Simply Elemental, a talented artist who specializes in all-natural bath and body products. Michelle and I have teamed up to develop something totally new; Berry Vanilla cleansing yarn conditioner! Made with all-natural products, including shea butter and lanolin oil (the natural oil of sheep wool), this beautiful wash will cleanse, condition and protect your precious hand knits, leaving them baby soft and smelling like heaven. To go with the wash, we have also developed a Berry Vanilla spray; a simple freshener for your hand knits, lightly scenting them all day long. Nothing is tested on animals, and the lanolin oil is compassionately harvested from already-shorn wool.

Of course, to go with everything, I’ve developed the Berry Vanilla colour way and pattern!

A gorgeously textured crescent shawl with a slightly ruffled border, this shawl uses up almost all of a skein of Niagara MCN. Don’t let those cables scare you off; they are surprisingly easy and fluid to work once you get the hang of it, though I would say being able to cable without a needle is a must.

Are you ready to hear about the party? Everything, the wash, the spray, the pattern and the yarn will be launching at Yarns Untangled here in Toronto, on Saturday August 13th. There will be kits available, munchies, and one lucky winner will walk away with a free Berry Vanilla kit! Stay tuned for more details including timing etc., but save the date because that will be the only place to get Berry Vanilla until after Festival Twist (and at Festival Twist, of course!). If you are planning to attend the KW Knitters Fair we’ll have kits for sale there as well. After the Knitters Fair, Berry Vanilla, the wash, the spray and the pattern, will all be added to the permanent collection on our website.

You might as well get to know Amelia and Brenna from Yarns Untangled really well if you happen to live in Toronto, because they are the exclusive yarn store of The Blue Brick ombré yarns for the entire GTA, that’s how much we love them!

So many exciting things going on, while we’re trying to sell/buy a home and prepare for our first really huge festivals. It’s never boring around here!
KAL Winners – week 2

August 2, 2016

Should have posted yesterday! Congratulations to this weeks winners, chosen by random number generator :) Ravellers Larisa3, Intothecurve and KTurner are all getting 20% coupon codes for our online store!
New goodies coming August 1!

July 28, 2016

Our store reopens August 1st, and there have been changes! Sitting down? Got a drink? Here we go!

We are bringing back worsted. Because Winter Is Coming.

Tobermory worsted, our hard-wearing, tough-love, 100% superwash merino base is going to be back on the list of bases you can choose from. We are awaiting our first worsted shipments, but look forward to seeing this by mid-month!

Twins Gradients, in every base.

Instead of’Sock Options’ available in only MCN Sport and 80/20 sock, we are renaming the product ‘Twins’ and you will be able to order them in any base, including DK and Worsted. Want a pair of matched gradients for worsted weight mittens? This is it.

Killarney Sock just got more awesome.

Killarney sock now comes in generous 500 yard, 150g skeins. Are you tired of shawlettes? There is enough yardage here to make sure you always have comfy sized projects. This one was a tough call, because in order to appreciate the full gradient you generally have to use at least 80% of a skein, and many shawl projects are written for about 400 yards. However, we did the research, and it seems that more is better!

New Colours in our permanent line – Heron and Sundown.

Heron – Mint to warm charcoal. Serene, almost-neutral and easy to wear.

Sundown – Coral to fuchsia to purple. Bright and punchy, warm and delicious.

And now… some not so amazing news:

Palettes and Neutrals are missing from our site for now. I’ve got big plans for those, but I’m a perfectionist. Until I feel totally happy with them, they will not be available for sale.

We have had to raise our prices. It hurts, but we are still a young company, and learning as we go. I crunched the numbers, ran a few different scenarios, and there it was; ombré takes a long time to dye and there is just no way around it. It’s our dream to do this full time, but we’ve got to make it work. Our new price list is as follows:

NIAGARA MCN SPORT – $42.00 CDN
70% Superwash Merino/15% Cashmere/15% Nylon
500 yds / 457 m per 5.6 oz / 160 g skein

KILLARNEY SOCK – $37.00 CDN
80% Superwash Merino/20% Nylon
500 yds / 457 m per 5.6 oz / 150 g skein

ESCARPMENT DK – $32.00 CDN
100% Superwash Merino
293 yds / 267 m per 5.6 oz / 115 g skein

TOBERMORY WORSTED – $32.00 CDN
100% Superwash Merino
200 yds / 182 m per 5.6 oz / 115 g skein

NIAGARA MCN SPORT TWINS – $42.00 CDN
70% Superwash Merino/15% Cashmere/15% Nylon
2 skeins at 150 yds / 137 m ea. (300 yards total)

KILLARNEY SOCK TWINS – $37.00 CDN
80% Superwash Merino/20% Nylon
2 skeins at 150 yds / 137 m ea. (300 yards total)

ESCARPMENT DK TWINS – $37.00 CDN
100% Superwash Merino
2 skeins at 150 yds / 137 m ea. (300 yards total)

TOBERMORY WORSTED TWINS – $37.00 CDN
100% Superwash Merino
2 skeins at 100 yds / 91 m ea. (200 yards total)

There is a lot more going on, but I need to keep this post manageable! I hope you’re all looking forward to the store opening, and the new colours :)

Love

S & T
KAL Prizes, Round 1!

July 25, 2016

Hot weather isn’t keeping our KAL down! For round one of prizes, by random number generator, Ravellers Huntersma, Svance, Michellephd and Surferjenny will all receive a free pattern of their choice from The Blue Brick.

Keep them coming knitters! Read all about the prize plan here, next Monday it’s 20% off coupons for The Blue Brick online store :)

@Hunterma

@Michellephd

@surferjenny

@svance
Colour Development

July 21, 2016

These days we are working away to sell our home, buy a home, and somehow produce enough inventory for Twist ;) So of course I decided to throw a wrench into the works by developing an entirely new colour.

My process usually begins one of two ways. Mostly it starts because I take a photo and think ‘this needs to become a colour way!’. Sometimes it starts because I get a colour way in my head though, and then I look through my photos to see what compliments the colour I want to create. This usually feels a little backward to me, but can be its own kind of fun.

I had a colour in my head that was a combo of my ‘Jade’ and ‘Charcoal’ colours. I wanted something muted and cool, not a rich or saturated colour. Something understated, relaxing, serene. I went through a lot of shots looking for the one that would match not only the colours I was looking for, but the mood.

This shot, for example, matches the colours, but the mood isn’t there. It’s industrial, gritty and dramatic.

This shot matches the colours and the mood, but I find the overall composition a little dull, and the beauty of the shot means a lot to me.

Same here. This photo hits *almost* all the right notes, but I don’t like the seaweed in the background of the shot. This was the top contender though, and we almost ended up with ‘Stingray’.

Instead, introducing ‘Heron’ :) Subtle and classy, with neutral, easy-to-wear colours, Heron will be part of our new product offering when the store re opens August 1st.

Sometimes I worry that my favourite colour, turquoise, makes too much of an appearance in my collections, but this is different enough that I feel it fits. Rayna thinks I need to add more red though… so that’s the next goal :)