After my adventure crocheting four kinds of granny squares, I decided that the square I thought I would like the least — Gertrude Taylor’s granny square pattern (chain-1 corners, 3dc shells with no chain-1 in between them) — made for the best granny square for constructing a crochet purse as it works up into a firm square without much drape.

It is not the first time that my initial biases have been upended by information. Gertrude has a rather stern approach to crochet, and I have kept the book, not because I use it a lot, but because I admire her militance about crochet as a craft, even if I don’t share all of her beliefs — for example, I think there is room in the world for left-handed crochet, to a degree that I wish I were better at it.

Building on the six-round square I had begun as a visual cornerstone for the future bag, I spent the afternoon trying any number of colors, and after many partially crocheted rounds which I then frogged and re-crocheted in some other color which either allowed me to move forward or required me to frog yet again, I finally settled on this series of colors for the first of what will be two ten-round granny squares:

that will form the visual anchor of each side of the bag. I am, I will freely admit, overly pleased with this square. Something about it speaks to me, and it will take all I have to resist the temptation to do something potentially lesser and new for the other side.

In addition to another ten-round granny square, I will also need sixteen additional five-round granny squares, and if my color indecision continues as it has, I should have the bag ready just in time for spring of 2016.