The colour of desire…

Despite the cold weather, the chill wind and the heavy shower of rain with ice mixed in, my daughter and I went to a lovely wee yarn shop on the other side of town this morning. A shop literally brimming with colour and texture and creative possibilities. So lush!

We were in the shop only a couple of seconds before I reached out to a yarn coloured the most exquisite shade of golden green. Instinctive. Like the colour called to me before I could even decide to reach out and touch. My body responded to the desire spontaneously – as if that colour were a magnet.

I looked around at the rest of the beautiful yarn. Really, just so exquisite. My mind was skipping through design ideas and potential projects. But really, my body still craved the golden green yarn. I drifted back, and picked it up in my hand, feeling the longing for this colour, imagining a scarf or a shawl or wrist-warmers or something – anything! – in this colour wrapped around me, laying next to my skin, warming me all the way to the bone.

I hand the yarn to the shop-owner who says, “Ah yes, the first one you touched.” And I nod and smile in recognition of this statement of truth. For how often is it that we know instantly what it is that we want, what we desire? And how often do we second-guess ourselves? How often do we suppress our craving, squash our want, hide our desire away in that place you put things for safe-keeping which you can’t then find at a later date?

So yes, it may only be a ball of yarn – soft wool, 4-ply, gold green – but it actually represents so much more. It is now a visual reminder of a time when I let the soft animal of my body love what it loves, and followed my desire.