The Neverending Blanket is Complete!

The Neverending Blanket is complete!  I should probably change the name of it but I like it the way it is.  It's the first large blanket I've ever made.  I started it in early 2011.  It didn't really take me 2 whole years.  It was one of those projects that I would work on furiously for a couple of weeks and then not touch it for a few months.  This cycle continued and, the larger it grew, the more I thought I would never finish it.  This project felt a bit overwhelming at times.

A few weeks ago, I took a week off of work and just stayed home with my family.  It was laid back and wonderful.  That week I took a good look at the progress I had actually made.  Initially I was going to make this blanket big enough to fit on a twin bed for one of my boys.  However, they have quilts my mother made and my husband and I made fleece tie blankets for them at Christmas too.  So I laid out the blanket as it was and really looked at it.  I hadn't done that in a while because I usually had it folded up so that I could continue working rows.  After looking at it, I realized I could be finished with it if I wanted to be.

I just needed to make that decision.  "It is good, just as it is."

Once I did, I finished the stripe I was working on and then added a darker gray border around the edge.  In one afternoon I had gone from "this will never end" to "this is finished".  My husband immediately took a nap on the couch with it.  My sons argued over who got to use it.  That night, I curled up under it's comfortable weight and warmth it provided.  It's not large enough to fit a bed but it's larger than a regular lap blanket.  It's perfect just as it is.

Are you sensing where I am going with this?  If I can decide that this mammoth project that became an uphill battle to finish is perfect just as it is, can't I decide the same about myself?  I always struggle with changes and goals that I make for myself.  Some of them are easy and attainable, but some of them seem never ending as well.  I don't view this blanket as giving up, rather I think I looked at it with new eyes and realized I was the only one keeping it from being complete and perfect, just as it is.  I'm the only one who keeps myself from seeing that I'm good, just as I am.  I can definitely strive to challenge myself and create a variety of goals but I need to accept me for me.  You should try it.  Accept you for you.

I realize this is just a blanket but it really did make me see that I put up my own road blocks.  I make things harder than they need to be for myself.  I am much too hard on myself.  Sometimes, we just need to look at ourselves with new eyes and say "I am good, just as I am."

Project Neverending Blanket complete!