While the cherry cola bag was off to a quick start, now that I am having to figure out the “particulars,” my pace has slowed considerably.

Yesterday, I decided I would tackle the “pocket panel,” a crocheted pieced that will become an outside pocket of the future bag and which will both keep secure and allows easy access to things like a cellphone, notebook, or glasses case.

I had to make the panel wider than it was tall, and before I settled on this option:

I had crocheted and frogged my way through several others that were (to my mind) all lacking in some way.

Sometimes the lack was something small, and sometimes it was large, but late this afternoon, I finally got something that looked worthy of my efforts and preserved the elements of the original design that I liked while allowing me to get the rectangular shape that I needed.

Here is how the “pocket” looks on its half-double granny square base:

and here it is with the other panel of the crochet purse:

With the pocket panel attended to to my satisfaction, I moved onto the other element that had been bedeviling me: the gusset.

Through what felt more “error and trial” than “trial and error,” I eventually crocheted a gusset that I could not only live with, but which I liked and took this photo of all of the pieces so far:

I still have to figure out what color I want the lining to be, and then decide if it will it be single or double. I am planning to use a technique to install the zipper that I have read about, but not yet tried, so I don’t know how that will work, and I have yet to figure out the details of the strap, but I do know that when it is all crocheted and done, I will have one of my most fun bags ever.