Clearing the cobwebs

I think we’ve established I have too much yarn, and I tend to buy yarn without any good reason for doing so. However, last night, as I sat in a puddle of self loathing, I suddenly thought “Right! I’ll make myself something” so I zapped over to Spotlight. I was after a kind of lumpy, stringy, handy dyed yarn which is about $20 a pop, but delicious. I’d put off buying it in the past because of the price, but I adore it. Sadly, due to the impending Christmasness, most of the yarn was off the shelves in favour of tinsel and plastic reindeer.  I did pick up some utterly delectable cleckheaton (I love cleckheaton) in three tones of orangy red, so I will make myself a wrap out of those.

Since leaving Second Life, I’ve had an utter explosion in creative juices, and I find it’s something I can do that will really lift my mood. Even just crocheting a line of a scarf or something is a wonderful mental break, especially when in the dumps like I get sometimes.  I’m trying to something a little bit creative every single day, and for the most part I’m doing that. Not by any means anything huge – I’m not doing a major oil painting every evening, or finishing an afghan every three days, but just a little something or other to keep the brain active and happy.

I do have oil paints I have yet to try, so I may crack those open this weekend. Can i paint? No. I can barely draw, but who cares. Getting over the idea that we need to be perfect at anything before we do it is a hard one, I’ve had many discussions with people about that.  For a long time I shied away from doing anything new because I simply couldn’t bear being terrible at something. I think jumping in to painting, crochet or anything else is a good cure for that.

I also love the all absorbing nature of sewing, or sketching, or writing. Losing all sense of place and time as you work on something that fascinates you is a wonderful thing, and a perfect mental break.  What you walk with at the end might not even be anything like what you were aiming for, but it’s yours and it’s new and you poured energy and care into it.

For those reading who are not “creative” I urge you to try something. It doesn’t have to be a big investment, a pencil and a small sketchbook should be under $10. Find something that totally absorbs your mind and soul and do it as often as you can. We live in a stupid, fast paced world full of mass production and angry people and bad drivers and god knows what else. Curl up with yourself and create a small something. It’s good for you.