Serenity Scarf Completed

My Serenity Scarf is complete.  I finished it last night.  As I held it up after casting off the final stitches, I noticed the few loose threads of wool and a couple of  repaired slipped stitches.  I took out my crochet hook and carefully weaved the loose wool into the project reinforcing the already sturdy, warm, deep red neck warmer.

This project was started last February when I began my Gypsy life after selling our little Quebec cottage and moving to temporary accomodations until our house was built in my home province of Ontario.  While living in our small business office on the second floor of a commercial warehouse and then in a tent trailer during the rainiest summer on record, I was able to achieve my longest stint of sobriety followed by a major relapse and am now on my sixteenth day of my final quit.  

The scarf project was with me on my journey.  I picked it up, put it down, dropped stitches and picked them up again.  I felt guilty at times about knitting an item for myself when I have four grandchildren all under the age of five but I soldiered on finally doing something for myself.  Now that it`s complete, I will wear it proudly and it`s purpose could not be served at a better time of the year as it is bitter cold outside this winter.

Leo Babuta who runs the Zenhabits Blog is one of my favourite positive providers of motivation.  His latest post:  http://zenhabits.net/unconditional/ is about self- acceptance.  He talks about loving and accepting oneself despite the fact that we may be fat, addictive and/or not as attractive as we would like to be.  His explanation is 

``This person who loves herself (or himself) … she’s more likely to take actions that are loving. Doing some mindful yoga, or taking a walk with a friend after work, eating delicious healthy food like beans and veggies and nuts and berries and mangos and avocados, meditating, drinking some green tea … these are loving actions.``

It`s true in my life.  When I am accepting of myself, I tend to follow through on plans to do things that bring me joy... like going outside to walk the trails in the winter.

Today I plan on putting on my snow pants, my down filled jacket and gloves, my furry hat.. I`ll be grabbing my trusty, rusty snow shoes and hitting the trails.  

I`ll have my Serenity Scarf wrapped around my face to keep out the elements... secure and protected... and doing what I love best.