The 25+ year Afghan

A long time ago,
Far, far away,.... (place photo here)
The college semester that I met my DH, I started an afghan.
It's actually crochet. The colors are very 70's Sunset, yellow through Burgundy. (I was in my natural Fall colors phase before I was color analyzed to be a Winter and should only surround myself with Cool Colors.)
And yes, it's all acrylic, I think Red Heart mostly. One really bright orange is actually a rug yarn that I "delaminated" into a thinner yarn to use. It was the best I could do in a town of 2,000 and only one store that even sold yarn. At that point in time, I was totally convinced that I was allergic to wool. If I was, I "outgrew" the allergy. I have a slightly rantish post to put up someday on wool allergies. But, I digress.

The 25 year afghan: I have a lot of excuses for why it isn't finished. It was lost in the black hole attic for several years. I don't move very well. When in college and first married, I and then we, moved pretty frequently. The afghan would get packed into various boxes and bags as for some reason it never occurred to either of us to keep it all together. The boxes would be separated, with one lost with this move and then found with the next move when a different box was lost. The afghan is many, many pieces. Hexagons that alternate with some dark in the middle and some light in the middle. A very lovely Sunshine and Shadows effect. Each has 6 or 8 colors. Lots of opportunities for orphaned pieces to go missing. Anyway, we've been living in the current house (if you can call it that) for 19 years (off and on). A few years ago, my Dear Husband found several boxes and ceremoniously presented them to me. Bless his little heart, he really is a dear. Really.
Anyway, I think some pieces may still be missing, but I started crocheting those little tribbles together. I must have been planning on a King Size bedspread that would reach the floor on all sides. What was I thinking? So, I basted together all the little Hexes I could find. And, then my ADHD took over. This is one of the many reasons why to this day I try to do "all of a piece" projects. I will only do socks or gloves if I can knit the 2 at once. That's my mantra now anyway.

In the mean time, DH has proudly displayed the partly finished "patchy" result on various couches and chairs in our living room for about 10 years now. Sometimes parts fall off because the basting has come undone. But, it is a well loved UFO. It comforts sick children as well as adults. It really keeps your toes warm in the winter. And it has holes just the right size to watch scary movies through. It washes well, even if it is in more pieces when it comes out of the dryer. It reminds us of how far we've come.
Thanks for following on this cathartic experience. Someday I will finish that afghan. It has come to symbolize my entire life. But, at this point, the family joke is that I started it when our relationship started, and I'm afraid that if I finish it, the relationship might be finished too. Approach Avoidance strikes again.