Today, I was determined to make as much progress as was humanly possible on the slightly smaller practically perfect granny square bag.

Having finished work on all of the squares for the body of the bag, I found myself needing to weave in a couple of hundred ends before I could move forward.

So today, with my bent-tipped Clover yarn-needle in hand and a cup of coffee at my side, I got to work, weaving in one end and then another. Eventually I got all of the ends woven in and trimmed and was ready to decide how I would lay them it.

After moving one square here and one square there, and then changing my mind and moving them back again — or not– I settled on this layout:

It was at this point that the sky (which had clouded over just twenty minutes or so before) let loose with a downpour of rain, thunder, and sunshine:

Undeterred by the constantly changing weather, I began joining the squares, first completing all of the four-round granny square side seams and then moving onto joining the eight-round center squares.

To my relief and delight, everything fit together:

and I took a moment to pin two corners into place so that I could get an idea of how this soon-to-be practically perfect bag would look.

Here was one side:

and here was the other:

There is still a lot of work to be done — more ends to be woven in, more seams to be joined, a lining to be made and inserted, as well as seventeen more two-round granny squares to be made, and while I have to measure my progress is modest increments rather than splashy leaps and bounds, I will continue forward, one stitch at a time.