piper palettes

Mid-September brought us a broadening of Piper’s color lineup, with five new shades taking a detour into richer, earthier territory. Part of the joy of creating new colors is finding the perfect names for them. We honor the state from which our wool and mohair is sourced with a continuing Texan theme:

Austin: a rusty, robust brick red

Laredo: distinctive, barrel-aged purple

Pampa: creamy terra cotta blush

Lone Oak: dusky, cool slate

Coldspring: aquatic gray-green/blue depths

The jewel-like complexity of shades like Lone Oak and Coldspring causes our camera to work extra hard to capture them correctly; even to our naked eye, they shift from gray to green to blue and back again with the changing daylight. 

Although the new colors are a decidedly seasoned take on airy Piper, we love how well they play together with the originals. In addition to having more colors to choose from for a single-color project, newly possible combinations are endless, with the opportunity to pair new and interesting colors that speak to one's personal style and taste. (If you haven't yet tried out the "compare" tool on our yarn pages, we suggest you give it a go: how about Pampa and Guadalupe? Or Laredo and Avocet? Or San Angelo, Lone Oak, and Coldspring, all three together...)

Stitch patterns are also transformed simply by the use of a darker versus a lighter color. Here, we show the fisherman’s rib featured in our just–released Dar cardigan, designed by Bristol Ivy (originally in pale Abilene)—see how lighter tones like San Angelo make a show of the geometric structure of the stitches, while a deeper shade like Coldspring creates a quieter, subtly textured fabric? Each appropriate in their own lovely way. The same goes for lace—playful in light, subdued in dark.

These new colors are a change from the mood of the clean, vintage-inspired palette in the original ten colors of Piper (photographed below in all their whipped, frothy glory). Experiment, play with color, pattern, and the combinations thereof; you may find a color choice you would not have originally expected to like, and having discovered it, now can't wait to wear. Piper's palette has a shade for every mood!