When Nancy Wheeler (knitsiphappy) asked me to dye a colour for her new Incognito Socks, I knew just what the pattern needed: a lovely tonal colour that would really let the cables shine.
But tonal doesn't need to mean plain, right? One of my favourite ways to dye tonals is based on an idea that I picked up from Kim McBrien Evans, the colour genius behind indigodragonfly. I was in the indigodragonfly studio, working for Kim part time, when she used the term "weird neutral." My ears perked up immediately: I personally tend to find neutrals boring, but a weird neutral? That sounded intriguing.
The reality was even more interesting, a kind of daring overdye rooted in basic colour theory. You know how mixing all three primary colours-- red, yellow, and blue-- gets you mud? It turns out that if you dye with one primary, then gather up your courage and overdye it with a mix of the other two, you get really, really strange and wonderful colours.
(Or mud. Sometimes, it's just mud.)
When it works, when you approach the project with a confident hand and a bit of planning and a lot of moxie, you just might get something really special. Greys that lean toward moss green and slatey purples, taupes that are simultaneously a bit peach and somehow also aqua, a rusty brown that is orchid purple and murky green...
That weird rusty mustardy greenish magenta purple? That, my friends, is Undercover Orchid.
It starts as screamingly bright orchid purple...
Then it gets a strong hit with murky mossy acid green...
And then... magic!
If you want some of your own Undercover Orchid, you can find it here.
For a copy of Nancy Wheeler's Incognito Socks, head over to Ravelry.