Before I started writing, many years ago, I didn’t consider myself a particularly crafty or artistic person. I crocheted a little, never deviating from a pattern. I did some needlepoint and embroidery—again, always following the instructions to a T.

Then I started writing, and all my hobbies fell away. I was a writer. I was creative. The more I wrote, I swear, the more my left brain talents began to atrophy. Math? I was a straight-mathlete throughout college, and now? Dear Jesus, don’t show me a tenth-grader’s homework. Can’t help there.

Still, I thought writing was my ONLY talent. Until, I accompanied my mom to her art group meetings, and decided I’d try something crafty. Suddenly, I’m painting (not well, but not putridly either); I’m making jewelry; I’m collaging, doodling… If it involves color, I’m there.

Now that writing is work (hey, it’s what pays the bills, so yes, it’s work), I have to do something else to wind down. Sometimes, art and jewelrymaking takes too much brainpower, so I needed another hobby. An outlet that didn’t require me to prep a thing, didn’t require me to count stitches. I found POTHOLDERS.

I know, it’s damn weird. But finishing up one of these suckers while I watch some mindless boob tube show to let my brain relax is sooooo soothing. And I found it by accident. I bought a grab bag of arts and crafts supplies at the local thrift shop, and inside the bag was a small plastic kid’s loom. I remembered having one when I was little, and feeling nostalgic, I went online, found some nice cotton loops, and made my first potholder. Then I discovered they have metal, “grownup” potholder looms that are twice as large, and I had to have one. See the potholder below? It’s the second I’ve made on the new loom. Pretty isn’t it? For this one, I didn’t follow a pattern. I just put colors next to each other that I liked and repeated the pattern once I got to the middle. That’s all the thinking it took.

So, tomorrow AM, I’ll be back at it hard, editing for a friend. I hope to wrap her story up tomorrow, because I have another last minute edit job arriving. I’m hoping that, by Tuesday, I’ll be writing my own dang pages, but in the evenings when I’m ready to let my mind rest, I’ll be sorting through my stash of cotton loops, making myself happy with color combinations that please my loopy brain.

So, I shared my weird hobby. Do you have something you love to do that fills that “resting brain” prescription?