When I began work on the felted version of my future fat bag, I knew that the most challenging parts of the project would be how to gather the edges and how to crochet the handles/straps.

Which is why I began work on an unfelted version, and while I have, at times, found the process frustrating, I am relieved to be working out the problems I have encountered with the incredibly forgiving medium of acrylic yarn instead of creating a collection of felted bags with handles and gathers that either “don’t quite work,” or “almost work.”

Yesterday, I learned that I needed to complete the edges with the more gradual gather first; today I focused on the side with the less gradual gather and straps:

Here is the start of my first effort:

as I continued work on the straps, I realized that in order for the bag to open correctly with the straps where I had them, it would be opening perpendicular to what I had envisioned, and while the resulting straps were “acceptable,” I wanted the look that I had seen in my mind’s eye, so I frogged the straps and started over.

My next effort got me a bit closer to the goal:

but I had made the strap/handle too long, and while it was nearer to what I envisioned, it was not quite there, but this time, instead of frogging, I simply began work on the other side of the bag, and eventually (but not before sunset), I got almost all of the bugs worked out of the design.

When the sun rises on tomorrow, I will finish the handle that finally worked, frog the one that didn’t, and make careful notes as I work the second handle, as to exactly how I accomplished the goal.

Then, if time permits, I will tackle the pesky details of a hyperbolic tassel, so that I can finally bring this project to closure.