The Colors of Joy

I want to share a story that I have shared many times at craft fairs, about a specific color combination that I weave in rayon chenille.

I designed these colors in March, seventeen years ago. You know that time of year when winter has gone on for so long that you don’t believe that spring will ever come? And then, as a reminder that the warmth and joy will return, a crocus suddenly appears, brave enough to push through the snow. It always feels like those first crocuses know something that I don’t yet know. That spring will come. That warmth and light and new life will return, and they commit their existence to this belief.

It was that time of year.

The crocuses had just barely appeared, and I found out I was pregnant. I had really wanted to be pregnant and there were complications that made it difficult and uncertain. But there, on a small stick, followed by a test at my doctor’s office, was the promise of new life growing inside of me, and with it, returning joy.

These are my colors of joy. The colors of new beginnings when the world seems darkest, when it feels like all faith in the returning light has shattered. These are the colors of the crocuses believing that spring is coming when I cannot believe it myself. The colors of a tiny new life, growing inside of me.

Stay tuned. The light is returning and I am coming along with it.

Here is the link to the Joy color combination in Brassard cotton.

Avi with his “Joy” baby blanket, 2005.