When people find out that, from time to time, I work on cross-stitch projects (cards, tablecloths, pictures), they say things like, "Oh, you do cross-stitching. That must be relaxing for you."
And I look at them, inwardly stunned, and think, "Matey, you have no idea."
For me at least, my creative hobbies are in no way relaxing. They are a compulsion. I might not be an artist using oil paints or watercolours, a sculptor hewing works of art from stone or even welding metal together, or a writer, but crocheting blankets, scarves and hats and ensuring that each single one is absolutely unique scratches my creative itch. As do cross-stitch or embroidery kits, because even though all the kits are the same, people's use of the needle is different and we all make mistakes. I like to think that I am bringing things into the world that didn't exist before and wouldn't exist now if it weren't for me.
However, I'm an all or nothing person. It's the reason why I don't do drugs or acquire a liking for alcohol. When I start a kit or a new ball of wool, then I have to finish it. I can't do a project for a day and set it aside for a while. It's the same when someone gives me a box of chocolates: I have to finish it all in one go. I once overdosed on Ferrero Rocher when someone gave a large plastic container of them. I got through the first two layers before feeling so sick that for about 10 years, I could only manage white chocolate. The smell of proper chocolate made me feel very queasy.
So...no, cross-stitching, embroidery, crochet, sewing...these activities are not relaxing. I shall sit at the table until my back has seized up, my neck is nearly completely stiff, I have a pain in my right shoulder and my eyes can barely look further than my hands. It's why I miss the cinema so much; as I often like to say: sitting in the cinema is the closest I get to doing nothing.
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