The Blue Brick

RAE KAL Ideas!

June 13, 2016

We’re gearing up for The Blue Brick’s first KAL! Rae, by Jane Richmond, a gorgeous, mindless, massive squishy shawl, starting July 1st! Click here for more details.

Don’t forget – until June 22nd you can get 15% off your Blue Brick purchase by using the discount code RAEKAL at checkout! I backed up the end date by a week to give everyone’s orders time to ship for the July 1st cast on :) Hope to see lots of you casting on with me!

To help open up more choices, I’m opening up the KAL to include projects where you use 2 skeins of DK weight – used end-to-beginning to make a palindrome (for example, starting the first skein at the coloured end, and the second skein at the white end). That’s 600 yards of DK weight, and would make an epic-sized Rae! Here are a few examples of what I mean:

Feather

Seafoam

Willow

I’ve been knitting up my swatch project for a few days now, and I thought I’d put together a few versions with the Rae shawl shape mapped onto them – to help you see how the colours would sit. Bear in mind that these are swatches, which means that the colours have been condensed *a lot* (into <100 yards) and that your actual piece will have the colours spread out over a much longer space. Here are some ideas where each end of the scarf will have a different colour:

Aurora

Gerber Daisy

Kim’s Barn

Labradorite

Orange Creamcicle

Parrot

Of course, there is always the original, Peggy’s Cove as well! Happy shopping, can’t wait to cast on with everyone!
Peggy’s Cove Rae Knit-Along!

June 10, 2016

The brilliant Kathryn has knitted up a ‘Rae‘ in our ‘Peggy’s Cove’ colour way. It’s a perfect pattern match! Jane Richmond is such a pro with elegant, functional design, she blows my mind. In fact, it’s such a great match that it’s time for The Blue Brick’s first KAL. Using Jane’s ‘Rae’ pattern and my Niagara MCN yarn, lets see what you’ll make!

Rules: (Simple!) – Cast on by July 1, Cast off by August 1 – that’s a whole summer month of mindless sunshine knitting. You’ve got to be using The Blue Brick Niagara MCN to be in the KAL – and to make it easier use the code RAEKAL at checkout to get 15% off any of our ombré products (including Niagara MCN, Killarney Sock and Escarpment DK). To get the biggest possible Rae, I recommend weighing your yarn and not starting the decreases until you’re halfway there.

Share your progress with us! On Instagram and twitter, tag your project #RAEKALBLUEBRICK. On Ravelry join our thread here. Share your photos on Facebook, and email them to me so I can share them on the blog :)

What’s a KAL without prizes, right? The winner will receive a skein of The Blue Brick MCN in their colour choice, plus any pattern you like from Jane Richmond’s collection.

500 yards of sport weight MCN makes one hell of a big Rae, let me tell you. It’s taller than I am, having blocked to an insane 82″. The construction allows you to really make the most of your yarn.

It’s the perfect canvas for showing off Peggy’s Cove, teal, pink, slate and cool grey in a long run gradient. Add smooshy garter stitch and a mindless, quick pattern and you have perfection. Ok, add ice cream too. Then you have perfection. (Mmm. Ice cream).

I’ll be enjoying this puppy in the colder months, because the size lets it wrap so beautifully. In the meantime it’s perfect for cool evenings by the lake.

So KAL it up! Who’s in?
Sometimes it surprises you.

June 7, 2016

I had created a delightful new colour called ‘Boulder Opal’. But it’s not… I chanced to put a piece of labradorite against it… and it was a better fit. So though this was not what I set out to do, I am retro-fitting. That’s only kind of cheating, right?

This is the original:

But now that I’ve had a chance to swatch – this is the right image:

Hopefully it’s not too confusing when ‘Boulder Opal’ ceases to exist on the site – just look for ‘Labradorite’ instead!
The Swatch Project – Feather

June 6, 2016

Last Friday I set out a new project; I dyed a ‘mini’ of each of our ombré colours, to show how the colours knit up, for knitters who are not familiar with gradient yarns. I compressed each gradient into 100 yards of DK weight–which means that the colours are *far* more compressed than they would be on, say, a 500 yard skein–but which should still give knitters a good idea of how the colours move and blend.

It makes for lots of yummy photography, creating all those minis, and a bit of a tricky dye job as well, but was well worth it when I saw all the lovely colour that resulted.

The first swatch I knitted up is our ‘feather’ colour way.

Feather graduates slowly from cream to charcoal. It’s a lovely neutral colour way.

And here is the swatch;

That little blue speck got in there by accident–there are no blue specks in ‘feather’ :) Again, bear in mind that the entire gradient has been compressed here into just 100 yards, but it should give you a nice idea of how the colours will play out across a shawl or sweater project.
Boulder Opals and Aurora

June 2, 2016

Yesterday I posted a photo of some of my favourite jewellery pieces – opals!) and it got me in the mood to experiment with some new colourways. First up – Boulder Opal (of course!) – full disclosure here – I didn’t have a boulder opal handy to shoot, so I worked with an image online, but I’ve got opals on the way! Because opals are now a business expense, hooray!

This is a deep ocean blue fading to sapphire blue at one end, and framed in by a rich brown at the other end. I really wish the yarn was phosphorescent somehow, to really complete the look.

For my other experiment, I chose to work once more with my aurora photography.

Purple, pink and green. Is it too crazy? I don’t think so :)

What do you guys think? Shall I add these to the shop?
Orange Creamcicle

May 31, 2016

Ok people, everyone remembers these, right?

The weather here in Toronto has abruptly gotten very hot and humid (considering it snowed two weeks ago… but hey, I’m not complaining) and I’ve got popsicles on the brain.

A quick pinterest search brings up all kinds of lovely things, inspired by orange creamcicles. Starting from the top left we’ve got: cupcakes, fudge, pound cake, shakes, dessert bars and cocktails. Clearly, orange creamcicles are an amazing thing.

So it’s time for yarn, right?

‘Orange Creamcicle’ our new colour for June, has no photograph (yet!) because I just *knew* what colour I wanted to make. It also has no pattern yet, because life has not been in the mood to allow me ample knitting time, but I did a little cruising around Ravelry and here are some patterns I think would be a perfect fit:

© ambah obrien

© krumel

© maanel

© UandIKnit

Left side: Myndie by Ambah O’Brian (how about basically anything by Ambah O’Brian?), A lovely interpretation of Bosc Pear by Raveler Krumel and a lovely free scarf pattern called Tender by Raveler Maanal. On the right is an interpretation of Different Lines by Raveler UandIKnit (original pattern by the amazing Veera Välimäki) that absolutely blew my mind. For the white dividing lines you could totally pair up with a skein of ‘Ecru’.

Orange Creamcicle is a palindrome yarn – which is to say that it’s orange at both ends and white in the middle. This means that, if so inclined, you could also cut the yarn halfway and make matching socks or fingerless gloves.

© francesnojd

© klippity

Left: Socks by Raveler Francesnoid, right: Mitts by Raveler Klippity

This lovely summery colour will hit our store this Friday June 3rd =D
Now… to go get some popsicles as photo props. That means popsicles just became a business expense, right?
John Fluevog Show

May 30, 2016

Last Thursday The Blue Brick held our first ever public event, a knit night in the Fluevog show store in the lovely distillery district of downtown Toronto.

We had such a fabulous night, meeting knitters (many of whom we knew online, so amazing to meet in person!) chatting with people about yarn and watching all the smooshing, cuddling and petting of yarn that ensued as people took the opportunity to experience our yarns in person.

We saw some of our very favourite people too, and I finally got to meet Julie of Knitted Bliss in person! Why is this so amazing? Well, besides the fact that she’s super sweet and runs an awesome blog, Julie will be designing a pattern with The Blue Brick yarns in the near future. I am more delighted than I can say to be working with such a talented knitter.

By the end of the evening we were tired and happy… but not so tired that we didn’t round out the evening by purchasing fabulous shoes. We were there for three hours… how could we resist? After the show was done, the amazing staff at Fluevog asked us to come back again, and consider another knit night at their Queen West location. We are so pumped!

I really want to thank the staff at Fluevog, and my friends Kathryn & Carol in particular, Carol for really going all out to promote the evening, and Kathryn for being so amazingly helpful at the yarn table – the night could not have happened without you both, and I love you so :)
Fluevog OOAK Colours

May 24, 2016

The Blue Brick’s first ever show to the public is coming up this Thursday, in Toronto’s distillery district! From 6-9pm at the Fluevog shoe store (4 Trinity Street, click here for directions) we’ll be hosting an epic knit night/yarn+shoe extravaganza.

Here is a peek at some of the colourways I’ve put together to match Fluevog shoes:

This is a modified version of ‘Feather’ that graduates from cream to black – it comes on all three of our bases and makes a perfect pairing with these patterned pumps.

This yarn can be used two ways; it’s symmetrical, so if you want socks you can cut it in the middle and have a matching pair. If not, it’s a long-run stripe, burgundy, pink, gold and back again.

And my personal favourite (shoe and yarn) – this is a modified version of Jade that is paler, more of a blue/green tint. It’s neutral and lovely, just like the blue of these shoes.

In addition, we will have yarn from all our usual product lines available. Hope to see you there!
Cruisin’ Roses

May 16, 2016

This past weekend I cast off another ‘I’d Rather Be Cruising’ shawl made in my ‘Rose’ ombré colour way. I love how the colour turned out!

I had yarn left over – and one thing about ombré yarns is that you want to use up as much as you can, to get the full expression of the gradient. Because of this I decided to add on a ruffle border. With debatable results.

That border *may* end up getting frogged later, but right now I don’t feel inclined ;) Too eager to move on to other projects!

It’s been so cold in Toronto (snowed yesterday, seriously!) that I’m actually getting a chance to wear this beauty. I guess that’s the upside to our lousy spring!

I love how the colours of my original inspiration rose blend in with the final piece. Ravelry project page here.
Contest Round Up So Far – Gorgeous Gradients!

May 11, 2016

The contest is still one! Click here to check it out and let me know what your favourite patterns are for gradient/ombré yarns!

Loving some of the suggestions so far! Here are a few of the ones that caught my eye:

The most popular suggestion so far is ‘Spice Market’ by Melanie Berg.

© Melanie Berg

My next favourite, ‘Vector’ by Tanis Lavaliere. Love everything Tanis does!

©Brooklyn Tweed

This designer is new to me, ‘Black to the Fuchsia’ by CasaPinka.

And of course Melanie Berg would come up again :) This is “The Joker and the Thief”.

©Melanie Berg

Deciding is going to be tough, but keep sending suggestions my way! I’ll pick something by Friday and announce the contest winners =D