I don’t have OCD, by the way.

A few days ago I set out designing a new necklace. It’s made of lots of tiny beads. Each of 3 tiers is in a different pattern that only my crazy brain can interpret. I hadn’t had time to actually put the necklace together yet, so it’s been sitting on my design board on a shelf.

Last night while The Boyfriend and the cat were playing, the cat in a moment of panic jumped onto the shelf. It was too high for him to jump completely onto, so he grabbed the edge of the design board. You know that picture of a cat hanging on by one paw that says “hang in there?” That was my cat on the design board. The same design board that was currently full of lots of tiny tiny beads.

I screamed “nonononononononononono” as I saw what was happening, while somehow The Boyfriend was able to catch the cat AND the design board, separate the two, and manage to not let a single bead hit the floor. I went to inspect the future necklace. For some reason, I had actually thought ahead and drawn a picture of the design. I’ve never done that before. The beads hadn’t been jostled too much, and with the drawing I was able to get them back into order fairly quickly.

Of course, I had been just about to close my eyes for the night. I lost precious minutes of sleep to fix the beads. The Boyfriend said “you’re fixing them now? Why don’t you just go to sleep?” To which I replied, logically, “I can’t sleep when the beads are all messed up.” Then I realized that genuine craziness was spouting from my brain. A person should be able to sleep knowing that their beads are out of order. I can sleep when the rest of my house is in disarray, but not if I spent hours arranging it.

Then I realized that beading is a perfect hobby for someone with OCD. It takes meticulous, perfect hand work. Patterns and symmetry come naturally. All of my jewelry (except one, that I messed up and couldn’t fix) is perfectly symmetrical. Everything has a pattern. I even tried tricking myself once and buying a pack of “assorted” glass beads in random shapes. I just found ways to make patterns out of that too. I can’t make something at random. It takes even just a few minutes of arranging before I can begin stringing. It is physically impossible for my hand to grab beads in no particular order and make something. (I’ve tried that too, and even subconsciously I make symmetrical patterns.)

So that’s what makes my jewelry special. It’s made by a crazy person. Incidentally, I’m sure this is why once I start a project it is finished really fast, as anyone that’s ordered a custom job from me can tell you. I work non-stop on it because often the pattern is in my head and needs to come out. If I hadn’t drawn a picture of this one, it either would have been finished that night, or the beads would have gotten out of order never to be put back.

I don’t have OCD, by the way.



**UPDATE** I finished the necklace. Go look at it here. You can see why I wouldn't want that all over the floor.