In which I discover that purple is hard to photograph – who knew?

You might become confused while reading this post and think that we’ve skipped right over June Blue to July Purple in Project Spectrum. Do not be alarmed. Do not adjust your calendar. June still awaits.

When I posted about our weekend dyeing adventures, everyone was most interested in seeing the shocking purple yarn. Of course, I managed to not take any pictures of the ultraviolet before I started overdyeing it with black, but Jeanne will affirm that it was too purple. Neither of us believed such a thing was possible, either – until we saw the yarn.

Anyway! Here’s the first skein – it was a cream-colored fingering weight 80% wool/20% cashmere blend, courtesy of the thrift store. I think I have enough yardage for a lacy winter scarf. Dyed with Country Classics Spring Violet, overdyed with Raven.

This skein was dyed with Spring Violet and a dash of Raven and came out the exact shade I wanted – no overdyeing was necessary. The yarn was cream-colored laceweight Zephyr, 50% merino/50% silk. Um, yardage is a lot. I have to weigh it later and figure out how much I actually have. It will become a shawl someday, but probably not for the Amazing Lace. I need to start this shawl business slow, with a smaller first project!

This tangle was two skeins of cream-colored Silky Wool (65% wool/35% silk), wound on a warping board to stripe. I’m planning to make a pair of cushy house socks for next winter from this (assuming I get it untangled sometime this year). The purple was Spring Violet, later overdyed with Raven. The grey was Blueberry and Raven, later overdyed with Raven. I’ll probably try overdyeing the grey with Raven one more time, to see if I can get it to be a more true and less blue grey.

“Did you see that?! Shhhh… I’m trying to distract Mom so I can drag this comfy cat bed away to my lair.”

33 thoughts on “In which I discover that purple is hard to photograph – who knew?”

  1. Oh my god, if I were ever to need a winter hat again, that purple yarn would make the most beautiful one.

    I think that pic of Chaos may be my favorite one yet. Black and purple go so well together :o)

  2. I don’t think Chaos is going to help you untangle that yarn any time soon.

    The results of the dyeing look great. I love the Zephyr.

  3. Those are some beautiful colours – the Zephyr most of all! Ahh Chaos – you have such a sweet and innocent look on your face ;o) but we all know better! You can see his pretty stealth stripes on the side of his face too :o)

    I looked at that Amazing lace KAL and Wow!

  4. I wouldn’t use silky wool for socks. It’s woolen spun, rather than worsted spun, so there are lots of little slubby bits which will drive your feet crazy.

  5. You know, once in a while, I find a trail of yarn running all over through the house and then I find it goes out the pet door and all over the back deck, around the back yard. At the very end of that trail, I find a mostly unraveled project. Thankfully, it’s only happened with my crochet. Which means it only happened with my acrylic (purchased before I knew better).

  6. The yarn is so beautiful. I’m loving the first skein, it just looks so soft. Can’t wait to see what you’re going to do with the lace weight!

    Chaos… keep an eye out for a package coming! There are presents in it for you too!

  7. I think the look on Chaos’ face says “Crap – she’s coming for me next and I DON’T want to see what I look like overdyed!”

  8. I’m not sure Chaos should be helping you untangle that skein. 🙂

    Nice colors from your dyeing experiments. Can’t wait to see how they knit up.

  9. I like all the pretty purples! Of course, I think I probably would have liked the shocking purple also – I like anything shocking and anything purple. What could be better?

  10. Oh, nice! I wanted to see the shocking purple. Alas. Pretty overdyed too.

    I think Chaos definitely has a project in mind for that yarn.

  11. Neither of my cats has really discovered the joy of yarn — Simon wants to help me knit, but he hasn’t discovered the ball/skein at the end of the string. And Harley – well, that would mean she would have to stop chewing on my hair for a while. So I’m not showing them this pictures of Chaos, who, btw, does look so handsome ‘wearing’ purple….

  12. Love those colors! That purple is so vibrant; it’s hard to believe you had to over dye it with black. I bet Chaos loved seeing those skeins sitting out to dry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found balls of yarn tangled around the livingroom so i can only imagine how Chaos feels about those hanks!

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