The past couple of days, when I was not getting ready for or enjoying Christmas proper, I spent what time there was working on the one of the crochet bags that would not leave me alone after the date for the state fair had come and gone.

After completing the template for the lining, I cut out the fabric I had selected and hot footed it over to my mom’s so that she could sew two straight seams for me on her high-powered Juki sewing machine.

In less time that it takes me to fix a pot of coffee, she had the seams done:

The fabric lining was exactly the size I had hoped it would be when compared to the squares it was meant to line:

With everything I needed to finish the bag within my grasp, after two days of not a whole lot of crafting, I had thought that today I would treat myself and finish the bag, but I got more than a little stuck on the joining gusset I had planned to use.

To start, it had been quite awhile since I had last used the technique, and as I sorted through photos I had taken, I found very little to help me sort it out. So armed with a 5.0 mm hook, Craft Smart fuschia yarn, and a vague recollection of how I had crocheted previous gussets, I got to work.

I like to use this particular join I seem to have pioneered because provides depth and joins the disparate pieces while doing so, cutting down on ends that need weaving in and eliminating gauge problems that can crop up. To my relief, after five or six attempts/variations on a gusset, I finally found the one I had been looking for:

Now that the gusset is done, all that remains is to properly fit the fabric lining:

finish making and securing the straps, and properly install the zipper using crochet.

With any luck and a lot of determination, I just might have this bag ready for the new year.