Today I’m introducing a new yarn collection that I’ve been pondering for quite some time. I have created six different colorways based on six characters from Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Misérables.
Choosing which characters to include and which ones to leave out was difficult, and as always, the part I love and yet the most challenging part is creating a whole set of color symbols related to the characters. As most of the characters are quite complex, so too are the colorways. All six colorways work together for a fade project, and I dyed all of them on a new merino/cashmere/nylon yarn base called Cashmere Sock.
The whole time I was working on this, I kept thinking of one of my favorite quotes from Alexandr
If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Not only is the quote deeply true, but I believe Hugo would have agreed with that quote and created characters for whom it is true as well, which is why his characters invoke our sympathy without being flawless.
Now before I go into each of the six characters I chose, I need to warn you that there are serious SPOILER ALERTS ahead. If you have not either read or seen Les Misérables, just stop right here and go watch it. Don’t worry. I’ll still be here when you’re done. The 2012 film version with Anne Hathaway is very well done, though of course it only includes maybe a quarter of the plot in the 1900-page novel. It’s still good.
Back so soon? Here are the six characters I chose to “create” in yarn and a little about each:
The first colorway is based on Javert–the one major character who does not invoke our sympathy. This is the detective who spends almost the entire novel trying to find Jean Valjean who, after having been released from prison on parole, took a new name and did so much good in the world. Unfortunately, even when Javert knows this, he is unable to let go of his desire for “justice,” and he is likewise incapable of tempering justice with mercy. Because he sees the world in black and white, I created his colorway using only those two colors. I used black splashes as well as tiny black speckles on the white background of the yarn.
If Javert is justice without mercy, then Bishop Myriel is, happily, the opposite. He plays a fairly minor though crucial role in the musical, but in the book his character takes up hundreds of pages. He is mercy personified. When he becomes bishop, he turns the large bishop’s residence into a hospital for the poor and the dilapidated and small hospital for the poor into his and his sister’s residence. Instead of going about in a fancy carriage as his fellow bishops did, he road a donkey and worried that others might think he was putting on airs by looking too Christlike because of it.
After Jean Valjean is released from prison, he seeks employment, but his status as a paroled convict (convicted of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister and her children) makes it impossible for him to find work. Eventually out of desperation and frustration, he steals the silver from the bishop’s home. He is caught by the police who bring him back to the bishop, and the bishop tells them the silver was a gift and urges Jean Valjean to take two valuable silver candlesticks as well, asking him to use this gift to change his life for the better and to do good for others. This singular act of mercy changes to course of Jean Valjean’s life as well as the lives of all those he goes on to help.
Bishop Myriel’s colorway includes purple for self-sacrificing goodness, black for his cassock, blue for loyalty and mercy, and gold for his heroic virtue. Here it is:
The next colorway is based on Marius. Marius was a young nobleman who got involved in the uprising of 1832, Not only was he seeking justice and relief for the poor and sick during an era of economic collapse, but when he sees Cosette, he falls completely in love with her.
I dyed Marius using gold for his noble heart, red for his love for Cosette and the cause he fights for, blue for his loyalty to his friends, and black for the dark era in which he lives. Here is Marius:
After Marius comes Cosette, his future bride (told you there were spoilers). Cosette was the illegitimate daughter of Fantine, a woman who fell in love and gave herself completely to a man who was soon to forget her, leaving her pregnant and destitute. She eventually leaves her little daughter, Cosette, with the owners of a tavern who promise to care for her as their own. Far from it, they use Cosette, keeping her only for the sake of the money her mother sends each month. However, when Fantine’s supervisor at the factory where she works learns that she has an illegitimate child, he fires her, leading her into a desperate downward spiral to prostitution to survive and aid her daughter. Much like Dostoevsky’s Sonya, her goodness is untouched by the horror of her life. Jean Valjean, the owner of the factory, knew nothing of her dismissal. He discovers her near death, gives her a comfortable place and cares for her until she dies, and then goes to find Cosette, whom he adopts as his own daughter, bringing light and joy into both her life and his.
For Cosette, I used purple for self-sacrificing love, pink for gentleness, blue for loyalty to both Jean Valjean and Marius, and white for purity.
While Cosette was being “cared for” by the Thénardiers, the awful couple who owned the tavern (much worse in the book than the musical), their actual daughter, Eponine, was well fed and well clothed. Later, though, their positions are more or less reversed.
Eponine is a complex character. In spite of her upbringing, she has a certain nobility to her, taking part in the uprising and sacrificing for the good of others. She falls in love with Marius. Unfortunately, he does not return her affections or really even see her except as a comrade.
I dyed her colorway with purple for self-sacrificing love, red for passion, pink for her feminine nature, gold for goodness, blue for loyalty, and black for her family.
The last character and by far the most complex is Jean Valjean himself. Sentenced to years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread, he is finally released on parole only to have the cruel system of “justice” make it impossible for him to find work. On the verge of despair, he is saved by Bishop Myriel’s mercy and goes on to become the mayor of a town, owner of a factory. He also saves Cosette and makes it possible for her mother to die happily instead of dying in despair. Yet all the while he is being sought by Javert and is ironically discovered when he uses his incredible strength to save the life of another.
I dyed his colorway using red for love, purple for his self-sacrificing nature; gold for his goodness of heart; blue for loyalty; white for virtue; and black for the darkness of his life.
As you can see, I dyed all of these using my Splashed and Speckled method, so none of the colorways are likely to pool. I dyed them on a new base made of 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It’s really soft, but it’s a different kind of soft from my So Silky Sock yarn base. This yarn would make fantastic shawls, sweaters, hats, or socks.
As I mentioned, I created all six colorways such that they can be used together as a fade. Here they are altogether:
It would also be possible to choose a few colorways to use together. I listed them all separately so you can pick and choose depending on the project you have in mind. If you need a project, last week’s interview with Andrea Mowry includes lots of inspirational fade pattern ideas.
I hope you enjoy creating with these colorways as much as I enjoyed creating them. I’ll leave you with one more photo of the whole collection on a different background but in the same order I would recommend for a fade project. From left to right there’s Javert, Bishop Myriel, Marius, Cosette, Eponine, and Jean Valjean. You can find them all here.
Happy fiber artistry, and thank you for looking!