Thursday, November 19, 2009

Purple Passage

On the heels of all the super-sweet comments you guys made here and on Flickr about the Ingenue and how the color suited me, I got to thinking about my relationship to purple. If you were to ask me to name my favorite colors, I would most certainly say 'green', 'brown' and of course 'orange'. 'Purple' would never come to mind--in fact, I distinctly remember looking down at girls in elementary school that were in to purple--it seemed too easy. Yes, my judgmental nature and me go waaay back. In any case, it is therefore somewhat surprising to me that basically every project I have on the needles right now is purple. Huh? Let's take a stroll through crazy town the WIP/zzzz basket and examine the evidence, shall we?

Diminishing Rib Cardigan
Diminishing Rib Cardigan: Silky Malabrigo in Wisteria. I know I will come to regret making a sweater out of this pill-tastic yarn, but it's pretty, right?

Tea Leaves
Tea Leaves: Brooks Farm Mas Acero in some cryptic color. Genius call on the yarn if I do say so myself. Ok--my Twitterpeeps picked this out, aren' t they smart?

Seamless Hybrid
Seamless Hybrid: EZ Seamless Hybrid in Berrocco Inca Gold--have you seen this yarn? Such sheen-y beauty, almost seems like a shame to give this one away! But it's not going far, just one closet down from mine.

Central Park Hoodie
Central Park Hoodie: Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran--need I say more?

Back to School U-Neck
Back-To-School U-Neck vest: My Vestvember project in Ella Rae Classic 'Purple Heather'--how ridiculous can this get?

Test Kniitting Yarn
Sekret Test Knitting: Some Valley Colrain in Grape Jelly. This is top secret: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Bella's Mittens
Bella's Mittens: One down, one to go. This is Ella Rae Kamelsoft. Great pattern. Super soft yarn. Squee.

I guess the evidence is incontrovertible. I am a purple fiend. Perhaps growing up in the land of Darling Nikki and having my strongest sports affiliation be to the Minnesota Vikings might have something to do with it.


I think I might be taking a page of out of my Grandma Dot's playbook here: once on a visit to Florida in the late 70s I made the (foolish?) comment that I really like her Deviled Eggs. From then on out it was Deviled Eggs 24/7. They popped up at every holiday and social occasion imaginable. This of course caused me to despise them. Please don't let this happen to purple.


28 comments:

earthchick said...

Oh YEAH. This is all kinds of awesome. Up with purple! Up with multiple WIPs in purple!

Did you know that I considered knitting Pickadilly in purple but was concerned that it might be too much since I already have an FLS in purple? Clearly, that was crazy-talk. I should've consulted you. Because two purple cardis could've been the beginning of some kind of wonderful.

Also, I was one of those 6th graders who loved me some purple. You would have scoffed at my pen with little purple hearts on it, but I luffed it.

Lolly said...

Purple is also associated with Royalty - are you sure you are not really a Duchess ?

Funessa said...

I used to hate purple too, but then I came around... it's such a great color because it GOES with everything (green, brown, orange...).
Love all the WIPs - the seamless hybrid especially!

Katie K said...

I like your CPH in particular.

I made a scarf with the Acero in suspiciously similar colors.

What I can't stand are yellow, beige, or dull browns by themselves.

lori said...

isn't it strange how this happens? if you asked me, i'd never say that green is my favorite color. ever. i'd say red, orange, black, deep blue, but never yellow and never green. but look at my stash, full of green....and worse, look at my finished objects for the last several months - green! and i love each one. it's so funny how we can be so unfamiliar to ourselves.

That One said...

I am in serious lurve with your Central Park Hoodie. *sigh*

lauren said...

Reading this totally makes me want to go cast on like 95 new projects. GAH. I want it all!! *especially* a tea leaves.

Anonymous said...

Purple also carries a connotation of aggression -- are you hostile? full of rage? Or just full of purple? ;^)

nicole said...

Puuuurple rain, puuuurple raaaaainn..... If you know what I'm singing about up here c'mon raise your hand!

(I hate to say it but now I'm hungry for deviled eggs...)

And why the hell did I think your Ingenue was pink? Oh well, whatever the colour, I say it looks freaking good on you, so go with it!

yahaira said...

waaaait a minute! what happened to the three project rule?! :)
purple rules so it's about time you admitted it to yourself

kim said...

And don'tcha just hate that nothing rhymes with purple? That just goes against my grain. Lots of gorg knits ya have there. Love those Bella's.

Danielle said...

I'm so glad you wrote this post, because I saw all that purple in your flickr stream and couldn't figure out how to leave a comment that said 'hey that's a lotta purple" without sounding stupid.

(Then I go and leave dumb sounding blog comments. Whatevs.)

Sonya said...

I, for one, find that parade of purple absolutely fabulous. Especially your Central Park hoodie.

Mandy said...

Ew. Vikings.

(but otherwise, your purple projects are very, very pretty.)

Sarah said...

I've made a similar revelation recently. I'm all about green and blue, but lately, I seem to be knitting a lot of purple. (Or maybe it was just the never-ending maternity sweater knitting in purple that made me feel that way.) Purple is the new black, I suppose?

margaux said...

wow you're a Purpleholic! love the mittens the most (just saw New moon last night - yes i am apparently 13)

Darlene said...

Love your WIP and the colors well lets just say I need to cast on more things now!!! I need to go shopping for more purples too!!!

Your purple fan in PEI
Darlene

Amy said...

We're in the same violet-and-lilac boat! I keep reaching for purple things lately, and there's no good reason for it. My palette has typically been green, blue, and a little purple, but now it's all purple, smurple, gurple! I don't want to be that person! Ah, but there's no point in fighting it, either. It's got me!

Yarnhog said...

Purple was what all the GGs ("giggly girls") wore when I was a kid in the 70s. As a decidedly non-GG, I wore black. But a quick trip through my closet reveals a large number of purple sweaters, and if we take into account the sweater lots of yarn in the stash, I have enough purple to keep Barney happy til the next millennium. (Purple looks fantastic on readheads, by the way.)

Amy said...

Purple is *totally* the new green. :)

Chelsea said...

Wow I love the variety of purples, so beautiful.

Sandra's Plan B said...

Purple is such a great color and even with all the projects you've got on the needles, the purples are all different, each has it's own character....and there's nothing better than having a little character I say.

Can't wait to see the finished projects!

Sandra

Aliice said...

Amazing! All that purple is gorgeous. I had to scroll back through the pictures a few times because they're so pretty. I don't knit with purple nearly enough!

Chris Tolomei (alicethelma) said...

Purple is the new black...dontcha know? As proof, yesterday I bought skirt, top and tights in various shades of purple. You reminded me that I had wanted to knit a seamless hybrid in that same color for my son.

Sue Remely said...

I have loved purple since childhood. Your post, however, made me realize that I have no purple yarn in my stash. I rectified that today. Now which cardi?

Cheryl said...

Love the purple post. Just the other day, I read in some magazine (have no idea what or where, maybe it was in a dream) that purple is the new neutral. Ever since, I see purple everywhere....the cover of the Winter Interweave Knits....my local news weather gal....Ann Curry on the Today show and now your blog. Love it! It's a great color....I agree with the comment that it goes with everything. I see purple in my future.....

QuiltedSimple said...

Pretty sweaters on your needles in lots of pretty shades of purple. I have a purple CPH that I'm working on that is supposed to be a Christmas present - I guess I'd really better get busy on it....
Kris

Lindsay said...

I think purple is my guilty pleasure in knitting. There's something about stitches looking oh-so-right when knit in purple.

Loving the Brooks Farm Mas Acero and Rowan Scottish Tweed.