Note to my readers: This post was first published on Feburary 25, 2011 under the title “Unfinished business.”

One thing about making a project is that sometimes the only way to learn is in the doing, and other times the only way to learn is in the undoing.

Today I did plenty of both.

This project has bedeviled me and resisted my efforts to finish it for more than seven months now, and last night I went to bed determined to finish it today.

Little did I realize that this bag was just as determined to remain in a state of undoneness.

Be that as it may, I put all of my crochet efforts toward the bag. While I did not finish it, millimeter by millimeter, I made progress.

The first order of business was to work on was the handles.

Last night I got started on a crocheted a strap. This morning, after I had had enough coffee, I finished the strap, and then tried to thread it through the casing I had created by folding over the three hexagons at the end, but found that the strap would not slide through.

It turned out that the solution was to carefully and s.l.o.w.l.y. (so as not to cut any of the stitches related to the hexagons that are part of the bag) remove the joining stitches, the ends of which I had carefully and thoroughly woven in so that they could not be easily seen.

Once I got the strap in place and had tacked down the casing in a secure but non-permanent way:

it became clear that the handle too long and too orange. I got out my 3.5mm Etimo hook and came up with a shorter, more multi-colored solution for the straps, one of which I finished:

the other of which I did not:

Here is how the straps looked when when unfurled:

Since I took these photos, I have finished the second strap, soaked both straps in a tub of warm water, wrapped them around a cylinder so that they will dry with the edges flat, undone stitches in the bag that needed to be undone, blocked the bag, and hung the bag to dry.

And maybe, just maybe, when I get up tomorrow and gather together the tools I need, this bag will finally join the ranks of my completed projects.