A funny thing happened on my way to finish the fifth round of four of the thirteen granny squares I need to make myself a new crochet purse: I changed my mind.

I’ll start by saying that my need for a new purse is desperate and has been for awhile. I have been making do with a non-crochet bag that is something my Aunt Millie got as part of a cosmetic purchase she made. You also need to know that my Aunt Millie passed away in January of 2005, so this is not a new bag, but it can hold an entire weekend’s worth of gear, so it is functional.

It is also all black — inside and out.

The outside black is not a problem. It hides dirt and generally coordinates with winter. The inside black is a problem — complicated by the cavernous nature of the bag. My middle-aged eyes don’t always see the thing I am looking for in what amounts to a portable abyss, so more than once I have discovered that something I “lost” was safely ensconced in a corner of the bag.

So I need a new bag, one with a bright interior lining so that it is easier to see the pieces of my life that I fit into it, and it was with that in mind that I got to work on four of the thirteen granny squares I will need for the new crochet purse, and it was when I finished the fifth round:

that I decided I liked the squares just the way the were, and while they weren’t perfect for the purse I originally had planned, they were perfect for this boho beauty that a friend found at Pinterest.

I knew that early last fall I had made the center circles for at 13 squares, so I went in search of the seven misplaced circles, and found two which still, to my eye, coordinate with the square I have finished so far:

But this left me with a dilemma: What would I do with the two crochet squares left behind?

I wondered what kind of rehab I would need to do to make them work for Project Amigo. I got my ruler out, measured them, and was delighted to find they were six inches across. All I needed to do was weave in one end and trim it. So I did.

Which meant that I could turn my attention to the nine crochet remnants I had identified for rehab. I started by weaving in the ends and trimming them:

and from there I worked the first round of the rehab:

I am glad that I finally have a plan to execute for a new purse, and I will move forward with both the boho crochet purse and the Project Amigo rehabbed squares: one stitch at a time.