A little assortment of what we’ve been up to (and my obsession with the colour yellow!).
We’ve shut the store down until Oct 3rd to give us time to move ourselves, and the company to Burlington. All orders are still being fulfilled, and we expect pretty much everything to ship tomorrow :) Thanks for your patience everyone, we look forward to starting up again Without all the chaos!
Love,
S&T
A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to our booth at the KW Knitters Fair this weekend! This was our first time doing that fair, and honestly, it was crazy pants. I have to give special thanks to Kathryn, our tech-editor extraordinaire but also our assistant that day who made things go *much* smoother for us. We met so many lovely, cheerful, enthusiastic people, you knitters are honestly the best people ever.
We set up the night before, thinking we had brought enough product, and we were so, so wrong. The next morning while we were milling around an intimidating voice came on the intercom and said “PLEASE BE ADVISED. WE ARE CLOSING THE LOADING DOORS NOW. WE WILL BE OPENING TO THE PUBLIC IN 5 MINUTES”. Of course, that sounded a bit dramatic at the time, but I was wrong about that too.
About 10 minutes later there was a line up into our booth that went right into the walkway. I can’t thank everyone enough for their patience with the crowds, their patience with us, and for thinking our yarn was good enough to line up for. It was incredible, and pretty humbling. It was also hard to get lunch.
Jelly bean cakes did well! Well enough that I will try making a few more, possibly on our usual bases. The lovely Danielle from Spun Fibre Arts picked up quite a few pieces for her store, so if you missed the event and you’re in the GTA – go check them out! We’re hoping to start sending regular shipments to Spun Fibre Arts if there is a good reception to the product, so stay tuned for that!
Now we have a bit of a break until our next show in Calgary – details coming soon! We are also closing on the house this Thursday, never a dull moment :)
The KW Knitters Fair is this weekend!
Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex
400 East Ave, Kitchener, Ontario.
Time: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Click here for more information
For the KW Knitters Festival this weekend I’ve introduced a fun new product that will be a show exclusive: Jelly Bean Cakes! Jelly Beans are pretty special; they’re dyed twice. The first time is to create the ombré effect, the second time is to add variation and speckles. To add to the fun, a Jelly Bean comes on oversized worsted; a generous 200g cake of 350 yards of smooshy 100% superwash merino.
Jelly Beans are not currently planned for our main store, I’ve made just 5 of each colour and plan to show them off at KW to see how people like them. Because they are very time intensive to make, I want to keep it small until people have had a chance to see them and let me know what they think :)
I am also working on a one-skein cowl project to show off the yarns, just enough texture to make it interesting, without getting lost in the yarn colours. I’m *hoping* very much to have that ready for the show as well, but it’s more likely to get posted on my blog early next week. I hope to see lots of you there this weekend!
You may have noticed that ‘Seafoam’; a staple colour at The Blue Brick, is looking a little different. So different in fact, that I had to rename it, introducing ‘Iceberg’.
There is a reason this happened. We changed our dye supplier and began ordering bulk amounts, so imagine my surprise when I purchased an entire pound of turquoise dye… and it didn’t look right. Our colours progressively got deeper and more saturated, until it no longer matched the original photo at all. Not cool. The old seafoam had looked like this:
So while this is normally not my MO – I renamed the new colour and, using the new dyes, resigned seafoam entirely to be more seafoam’y.
The new colour is a much better match, and allows Iceberg to shine on as it’s own, much more intense colour. The new Seafoam is gentle and beachy. Think sand, seaglass, white beaches and tropical scenery. Needless to say, this particular photo is not from Canada (though the iceberg photo was taken in Newfoundland, of course!).
Get your hands on the new seafoam, along with lots of other goodies at the KW Knitters Festival this weekend!
Lots of change coming to us… yet again. I remember after we got married last October I told Tito ‘lets have a boring life for a year, let’s not start anything big’. So much for plans.
This year we really launched The Blue Brick. In fact, yarn is going so well for us that we rapidly outgrew our tiny 600 square foot condo. To live in a small space means being a champion at Tetris. Want to sew something? Clear off the dining table, move the drying yarn to the bedroom and bring the machine out from storage. Want to actually cook? Empty the kitchen of all the dyes and tubs, scrub down the counters and make them food safe before starting. You get the idea ;) This summer we put our beloved downtown pad on the market and bought a house in the burbs.
For anyone who knows me well… that’s basically the least likely thing I ever thought I’d do. We had a sweet spot, with a heck of a view, a 20 minute walk from my day job. Last night we went to the CNE, and we walked home. We could watch the air show from the balcony. I work in advertising all day, and I loved it. Total yuppie.
Toronto is the centre of the universe, just ask any of us! And we lived at the centre of the centre, basically right beside the CN Tower. Non stop action, proximity to tons of restaurants, right beside the lake, right in the heart of the city.
And yet, it was time for a change because it also meant small spaces, bad traffic and big crowds. And I’m ready for a change. I don’t love my job like I once did. I love quiet things and heritage arts and beautiful yarn. I love the idea of cottage industry, indie business and striking out on your own. It’s a complete 180 for me.
Welcome to Chateau Blue Brick, (all photos are from the realtor listing, not our decor because of course I’m planning to have a Pinterst-worthy home… hopefully? Again… plans.) which we’re closing on in exactly 2 weeks. It’s in Burlington, about an hour from Toronto in good traffic (good traffic? What’s that?). I’m in love.
The Blue Brick will have a basement all to itself where it can stretch out, make a mess, and then be invisible when we are done for the day. We will no longer live in the studio.
I will have a craft room where my sewing machine, weaving loom and spinning wheel will always be available to me. Tito will have one as well, so painting, sculpting and drawing now has a quiet, dedicated space.
It’s time for a kitchen that is actually food-safe, all the time. I love to bake, and I love fresh bread and fruit and sweet things. Our kitchen will never again have to double as our studio.
The garage will likely never contain an actual vehicle. Tito has plans for a woodworking space, and I dream of being able to start up my pottery again (yarn bowls!!).
There is a backyard. To a city gal, the idea of a dedicated, private piece of actual land, with trees and seating seems like a crazy dream. It’s a decent size, with a big patio and a gazebo that we plan to put hammocks in. There will be barbecues and reading and napping.
Toronto is beautiful. It’s crazy, it’s crowded, it’s full of stimulation and the exchanging of ideas. It’s full of culture and energy and I love every gritty inch of it. But it’s time for change, it’s time for space, and it’s time for The Blue Brick to have room to grow again. While there may initially be some culture shock, we’re totally excited for the new adventure!
First of all – thank you to everyone who came out to support us at Festival Twist! We had a fabulous time, and can’t wait for our next show – the Kitchener Waterloo Knitters Fair – hope to see you there!
Now, onto more yarn’y things :) The Blue Brick is planning to bring back worsted – but I’m trying to narrow down in what yardage. It seems to me that one gradient over 200 yards is not a lot, and if you wanted to do a 2-skein cowl or scarf then your gradient would have to mirror (which is possible totally cool). My thought is this: Is anyone interested in oversized worsted skeins? Say 350-400 yards? If 200 yards would sell around $32/skein, then an oversized skein would likely be around $48.
This would open up a few possibilities; shrugs, cowls, worsted size scarves and shawls etc. It would be far too much yardage for things like hats though. I could offer three sizes in worsted: 200 yards, 200 yard twins (mirrored skeins for mittens etc.) and oversized skeins, but that might get to be a bit of a pain for us. Because our yarn is ombré and not variegated, it’s important to be able to hit that sweet spot for yardage, to minimize waste yarn and max out your possibilities, but that’s just me.
Thoughts? Leave me a note in the comments and let me know how you’d like your worsted!
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.
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!
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.
‘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!
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!
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!
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!
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 :)
The Blue Brick 