The many moods of colour #3032

As there's been some amusement and a comment or two on the colour of the yarn I'm using to knit my Candle Flame Shawl from people who know just how much pink really isn't my favourite colour -- not to mention the joy with which my daughter Amanda likes to point, laugh, and remind me that "That's really pink!" every time she comes over to visit -- I thought I might have a go at providing an explanation of sorts.

When I originally bought the yarn, the colour was described as 'dark red with a fuschia tint', and while the accompanying photograph was really red...


... the Colourcheck entry for it indicated that it was probably a bit more crimson than the photo indicated, so I was prepared for an interesting colour when I placed my order. Having seen the colour in real life now, I actually think 'fuschia with a red tint' would be a more accurate description of the colour as I see it, but then again I'm also very aware that colour perception is much more subjective than a lot of people think.

What I can say is that it has proved to be a difficult colour to photograph consistently for my work in progress photos for this blog, as varying light levels on different days have really made a huge difference to the way the colour looks in digital photographs.

But at least I'm not alone in this. ;)

Here, from the ColourMart website, is a photograph of a cone of the same yarn which has been plied to make a DK yarn...


... and a photograph of a washed skein of the same yarn...


Despite their differing appearances, in my experience all of the above photographs are actually accurate representations of this particular shade depending on the light source used, as different fluorescent or incandescent light sources, and natural light levels all bring different aspects of the colour to the forefront.

So... While I'm really not a pink person in general, the colour of this yarn is a real chameleon, and while it's vividly pink when it's out in bright sunlight, under most lights the red tint is evident to greater or lesser extents. I don't think I've had any other reaction from people when I've been knitting my shawl out in public than "What a fabulous colour!", so I guess it must be one of those shades with almost universal appeal -- a fortuitous purchase indeed! :) I do have to say that my choice of a project for this yarn which will mostly be worn of an evening and therefore illuminated by candlelight, incandescent or fluorescent lighting was a deliberate one as those are the situations where I think the colour is at its very best.

And for anyone who has been wondering about the absence of new entries here for the past several weeks... I've been having a problem with my photo manipulation software, which, after several attempts to correct it by re-installing the software from scratch, eventually turned out to be caused by an errant tick in one of the boxes in a setting window which has now been removed. How it got there, and why it persisted even after several supposedly clean re-installations, I still don't know. Anyway... Expect some catch-up blogging to occur over the next day or so.