Sammy’s results came back! They’re so outside of what I expected that Kali commented “They must’ve just thrown a dart at a bunch of dog breeds” and I think she might be onto something!

So here it is!

Here are Sammy’s thoughts:

Since we had to resort to a number generator here are the winners!

Instagram users: Marizasamara, sirsheila, bennycatgirl, yorkrealty and knittwitty – you’ve all won 20% off discount codes for our online store :) chemgeek83 – you’ve won a skein of yarn! Email me at hello@thebluebrick.ca so we can work it out :)

I have been using Paypal for years. I am an online business owner, and this is how I make my living. Reliable access to, and transfer of, funds is crucial to me, and my livelihood. Paypal apparently doesn’t give a hoot about it.

Last week I transferred a large sum from PayPal to my bank. A sum that would be responsible for payroll, for buying yarn, for paying my mortgage. The funds arrived in my bank, but also remained in my PayPal account. I called Paypal – they said it was a glitch, that they would call back, and in the meantime not to touch the funds in either my bank account, or my Paypal account.

It’s been 5 days, no contact, so I call Paypal back and asked to be elevated to a manager.

He basically throws his arms in the air and says:

“It’s not our responsibility. Must be your bank”.

I say:

“Ok, but shouldn’t someone from PayPal have contacted me about this? What if I tried to withdraw the funds again? What about recent transfers? What if I didn’t, on my own recognizance, contact you before I made this worse?”

He responds, like some horrible automaton:

“It’s not our responsibility. Must be your bank”.

The manager I requested to elevate this kept repeating that one sentence, basically hoping I’ll go away.

I think we can all rest assured that, had I done something dishonest, like pull the funds again, Paypal would have been knocking on my door with a good deal more efficiency. If my bank reverses the funds it will be catastrophic. If Paypal continues to not allow me access to my funds, including new, incoming purchases, it will be catastrophic.

I’m not sure what my alternatives are. Roughly 50% of our business comes through PayPal so it’s not as though I can ask my customers to charge their credit cards instead. Informing Paypal that I will take my business elsewhere elicited no response except “that’s your prerogative ma’am”. They are so confident in their monopoly that they don’t care if I stay or leave. It’s a horrible feeling from the agency that holds your livelihood.

A small business is feast and famine, and the consistent, reliable flow of funds is crucial. They have demonstrated that they don’t care one whit about this. I’m open to your thoughts, or even just commiseration at this point. I feel so powerless.

I hate using my beautiful blog as a rant space, and for that I apologize, I just had to get this off my chest!

Two more sleeps to the 25th Anniversary of the KW Knitters Fair – the oldest fiber festival in Canada if I have my facts right :) Here are a few notes to help you plan your day if you’re going to come visit us!

We will be located on the upper floor, in booth 101. It looks like we’re right by the entrance, so make sure you wave as you come in!

Sometimes a colour just stops singing to you, and that’s what happened with Mt. Fuji. Introducing its sister, Cape Spear. Cape Spear is in Newfoundland, and it’s the first place in North America to see the sun each day, being the easternmost point, which makes it a pretty special place. This photo was taken at sunrise, of course! Cape Spear will making its debut this weekend, and Mt. Fuji is being discontinued, the last of which will also be at our booth this weekend.

Above are a few one-of-a-kind skeins that will be available only this weekend. From left to right:

• A palindrome mint green that fades to blue at both ends, speckled with brown.
• A palindrome denim blue, darkening to navy at both ends, also speckled.
• A short run of the Copper Slate pop-up colour, in case you missed out.
• A bit of Coral Mint (not shown) will be there as well.

All of the above is in pretty short runs, 12>. So if they’re on your list you’ll want to visit us early!

Yarn Bowls will make an appearance as well! To help you prep, here is the pricing:

• Small bowls – $65
• Medium Bowls – $75
• Large Bowls – $85
• Bowls with resin components – $120

Of course there will also be all of our regular colours, gorgeous samples, Ombré Yarn books and our lovely selves! Hope to see you all this weekend :)

September! Cool temperatures, changing colours, the hazy dog days where you can sweat through the afternoon and need a sweater by sundown. Knitting, hot drinks, all things pumpkin. Even though it’s still technically summer for more than half the month, I know I’m not alone in wanting to jump the gun a bit where fall is concerned.

Introducing Copper Slate, a colour I love so much it will be seriously hard not to add it to our permanent line. Copper Slate will be available in our online store starting September 1st at 9am, until Sept 2nd at 9pm, Eastern Standard Time.

Eyeshadow link here, Door link here.

This month I went full autumn, it feels more like November than September, rustic and neutral, yet the colours remain quite warm overall. It feels like days when the snow hasn’t quite come yet, but the leaves are gone. It feels like fireplaces, apple cider and your favourite corner for reading.

A warm, rusty red, almost cayenne, blends into a neutral slate blue. Easy to wear, no matter your palette. Remember, it’s only up for 36 hours or so, in any base you like. Fall out!

I’ve been working on a collection of new patterns, sort of an addition to my Ombré Knits book, that focuses on small, easy one skein projects that take advantage of gradients, and the first of them is finally here! This is the Escarpment Cowl.

This cowl is the simplest of construction; you start with a garter stitch tab as though it’s a top down triangular shawl and then work as though you’re making a stockinette shawl until it’s wide enough to go around your neck; you then join in the round and keep working until you’re happy with the length. A garter stitch border prevents the curling and a modified kfb creates a nice neat centre line down the front.

Tiny details, big impact :) All you need is one skein of Escarpment DK. 3.5mm needles and three stitch markers. Enjoy! Ravelry Link here.

We have been toying with the idea of participating in stateside shows for a while; Vogue, Stitches West, TNNA etc. After much deliberation, we realized we’d rather team up with a store in the US to represent us than go through the process of importing ourselves.

So we are on the hunt! Do you have a favourite LYS that you think would be a good match for us? Are you a yarn store owner in the continental US who regularly participates in these shows? Do you enjoy bad Canadian stereotypes?

What we provide; gorgeous ombre yarn, inspiration images, print and social marketing support, POS support, pattern support and our lovely selves (we would travel to each show to hang out at your booth and tell bad jokes).

America; we already thought you were great, and we’d like to come hang out and get crafty. Email me at hello@thebluebrick.ca and let’s talk!

If you follow us on Instagram you’ve probably seen Tito’s lovely wood turning work by now :) He’s working hard on producing a lovely set of at least 12 bowls in time for Festival Twist, and another 12 in time for the Kitchener Waterloo Festival.  Hopefully more, but that’s the goal!

After asking around a bit we’ve chosen not to include the slot for the yarn to pull through, some people wanted the freedom to use the bowls for other purposes, and some  prefer a centre pull ball and didn’t feel the slot was needed. We may change our minds in the future, but for now we’re going without.

Each bowl is hand stained by Tito to match one of our ombré yarns. I think he’s done a lovely job! If you can’t make it out to Twist or KW, these bowls will be available in our online store, which we will probably update at least once a month.

Finished with a coat of beeswax after sanding they feel like heaven, with a rich, earthy smoothness. Hopefully you’ll able to see and touch these goodies in person!

Sammy is a gorgeous, perfect, mystery mutt. Could be anything, our friends and vet have thrown all kinds of ideas out; springer spaniel, border collie, short-haired brittany, German pointer etc., and we have decided to solve the mystery once and for all!

We’ve gotten Sam a kit from DNA My Dog and just sent in her cheek swabs today. So here’s the contest! The first 5 people who guess the *closest* to Sam’s actual breed mix will get discount codes for 20% off our website. The First Place winner will get a skein of yarn of their choice, any colour, any base, shipping included. Deal? Here we go!

This is from the FAQ on their website:

Why are several breeds listed on my Canine Breed Composition DNA Analysis Certificate, and what do the levels mean? In processing, breeds are detected as ranges rather than absolute values. These are then listed on your certificate as Levels, which are defined as follows: Level 1: Over 75% of the DNA found in your dog is from the breed listed. Level 2: Each breed listed represents between 37-74% of your dog’s DNA Level 3: Each breed listed represents between 20-36% of your dog’s DNA Level 4: Each breed listed represents between 10-19% of your dog’s DNA Level 5: Each breed listed represents less than 9% of your dog’s DNA.

So to enter, follow these steps!

1. Follow us on instagram and tag a friend who likes yarn and/or puppies!
2. Leave a comment on this instagram post or the blog or Facebook telling me what you think Sammy is made up of. Put the breeds in the order you think she’s composed, with the dominant breed first in the list.
3. That’s all! When her results come back (approx two weeks) we’ll post them here and name the winners! If there is any confusion about the order of comments, and many people make close guesses I will switch to a random number draw to choose winners

Here’s what I can tell you about Sammy; she’s about 18 months old, she weighs 52lbs and the Niagara Dog Rescue had her listed as a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd. She has a gentle disposition, a big girl bark and is very defensive of her home. Soft, floppy ears, a fox brush tail and gorgeous hazel eyes. She also loves chin scratches, but that’s not that helpful ;)

August always seems to represent the last of summer; the CNE opens in Toronto, back-to-school ads are everywhere and people get their knitting mojo back on. However, from a weather perspective here in Southern Ontario, it’s still hot hot hot, and can remain so well into the dog days of early October (my personal favourite time). So for this club I wanted something that felt light, summery and warm. Something tropical, something sweet. Thus, Mint Coral was born! Sweet mint fades to cream before fading back to a rich coral, Not too pink, not too red, just right.

Mint Coral will be available from August 1st at 9am EST to August 2nd at 9pm EST, no club membership necessary, just click onto our store and go to “Ombré Yarns” :)

Earrings here, bouquet here :)

July 1st is coming up fast, and all I can think about it the July Club Colour. I mean, obviously it has to be something related to Canada Day, and not just any Canada Day, but the celebration of the 150th anniversary of this awesome place I call home.

Typically, Tito and I celebrate by road tripping, but this year we’re planning to spend the day doing a trunk show at Yarns Untangled in Toronto, and the evening looking after our doggies, in case fireworks scare them. In the future, when Sam is ready, we’re hoping to go back to road tripping-with the dogs in tow.

This one is heavy. Canada means a lot to me, and to my family. My dad emigrated from India in 1972, my mom a few years later from Guyana. They met in Toronto. I was born in Toronto, and have spent my charmed existence in a place that celebrates tolerance and diversity, to the point where, on the off times that it’s happened, it takes me a few minutes to clue in when someone is being racist. I’ve been able to reach as high as I liked, without (relative to the world scale) feeling like my gender was a limitation. I have never experienced a war zone, or want, or a hate crime. Brain aneurysms run in my family and I have universal health care that allows me to get an MRI *just to check*. I have been extremely lucky.

To me, Canada is a celebration of diversity, equality and tolerance. We’re an unembellished folk, not prone (as a nation) to extremes (except in terms of weather) friendly, polite, and generally pretty easy going. I’m not going to throw rose coloured glasses on the horrible parts of Canadian history and the present day state of things (particularly where our aboriginal bothers and sisters are concerned, I know there is much progress to be made) but I cannot visit my parents countries of origin without coming home feeling immense gratitude for Canada. I love the Prime Minister. I love the landscape. I love a pastry particular to Canada called the Beaver Tail. I love Tim Hortons.

How to sum all this up in a colour way? It’s been frustrating, let me tell you.

Attempt #1 – The provincial flowers of Canada. I tried creating a gradient from all of them, it was lovely on screen, but I didn’t love it on *skein*.

Attempt # 2 – From sea to sea, a land of diversity. This one graduates from ocean blue to white, and back to ocean blue, but with “watercolour” applications in the centre, in a broad spectrum of colour, to represent our broad spectrum of peoples. It’s lovely, but it’s very soft, and put me in mind of baby things, and didn’t seem to have the gravitas I was looking for.

Attempt # 3 – Why didn’t I just lead with this one? It’s the Canadian Flag. It graduates from deep red, to white, and back to deep red. It’s speckled throughout with black, I was so worried that it would be a contrived, and uninspired option, but once I saw it I knew it was the one.

So there you have it, the July Club Colour will be “Canada 150”, and it’s the red and white that we all love and all associate with our own ideas of Canada. And that means it’s open to personal interpretation, and that’s the way it should be, because that’s who we are.

I’ll leave you with my favourite anecdote from when my father came here from India. He initially lived in Ottawa, and since in India he had been a motorcycle repair technician, he sought the same kind of work there. His first day on the job his boss takes him to the back and there, sitting on skids… is a skidoo. My dad had no cultural reference whatsoever for this beast, so he looks at his boss and says “Well… for a start…. the wheels are missing”.

:)