Could be violets, here's some pictures:
http://altnature.com/gallery/violet.htm

Or possibly henbit:
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/lamam.htm

Violets are welcome in my lawn. They are beautiful, and the leaves are an
important food for the larval stages of some butterflies. They only flower
in the spring, then the leaves merge into the general green of the lawn.
I'm not as fond of henbit, but it doesn't worry me; I pull it from the
flower beds, and ignore it in the lawn. It grows most vigorously in the
spring, and fades into obscurity when it gets shorn by the mower.

Sue

Zone 6, Southcentral PA


"Natty_Dread" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone! I'm here in the DC suburbs of Northern VA, zone 7a/b. For
some reason this year, strange weedies I've never seen before have
sprouted
ALL OVER my lawn. They're about six inches high (no, we're not slackers,
we've just had a lot of rain recently and haven't mowed the grass yet for
fear of compacting the soil) and have straight stems with little leaves
that
look almost like ivy topped with small purple flowering things. These
things are taking over our back yard, and as I said, I've never seen them
before -- we've been here almost three years and we generally just get
clover and other leafy weed-type things in the lawn. Any ideas on what
they
might be and the best way to get rid of them without killing the grass?
Thanks in advance!

Rhonda
Alexandria, VA