Day 214: tea and therapy.

Today I went to another crafternoon. This time it was at a totally cool cafe in Newtown called Coffee and Yarn that actually has knitting needles, patterns and even half done knitting sitting in little boxes on the tables. You can literally come in, order lunch or coffee, pick up some knitting and do a bit, then put it back down when it's time to leave. Could there be a venue more suited to our crafty purposes? I think not. Now I know that meeting up to knit and crochet and sew stuff really does have the whiff of nerd about it. But I couldn't give a rat's. It's not nerdy, it's awesome. Here's why. Firstly, crafting things for the sake of crafting things (and maybe because you want to make someone a little present or something useful) is incredibly satisfying. You start with what looks like nothing (a long string of wool or some scraps of material) and you turn it into something cute or cool or funny. It's creative. It's fulfilling. Second, doing something that is mainly handwork, puts your brain into a special free-to-think-but-not-free-enough-to-fixate-on-thoughts state. Your brain kind of calmly works through issues while your body concentrates on stitching or whatever. It's almost meditative. And then there's the chatting, which is the particular charm of the crafternoon model. Just making stuff on your own is therapeutic in itself, but making stuff with a gaggle of cool girls to talk to is the kind of therapy you just can't buy. You see chatting is how girls work their shit out. It's how we reconcile ourselves with the craziness that is our lives. It's how we find out we're not the only person in the world who feels frazzled or freaked out or silly or at a loss (or excited and happy and in love with everyone and everything, as the case may be). Am I wrong? So today, in between stitching and knitting and sipping coffees and teas, we aired our troubles, our fun plans, our frustrations, our funny stories. And at the end of it (and during it too) I felt great. I couldn't have designed a more pleasant afternoon. In fact, I was so enthused with the whole thing, I went and spent 27 bucks on one packet of tea. Expensive? Maybe. But then again, good therapy has never come cheap.