While I celebrated BastilIe Day by beginning work on the Mamy bag, in my zeal to get started, I overlooked a detail that some might consider significant, namely the gauge.

For some items, gauge is not important, and the gauge of a bag often does not need to be precise. But in this instance, the bag I am making is so much larger, I am going to have trouble finding handles that will work.

I began joining the hexagons this morning, with the expectation that I could weave in the ends while waiting for my son during his trumpet lesson. Then, crochet bag in hand, I set out on my errands:

In as much as I knew I would be out running aforementioned errands for most of the day, I had hoped to slip into a craft store just long enough to look over the selection of purse handles, but this was not to be.

As it happened, between tracking down the correct water filter for the refrigerator, putting gas in the car, going to the library, grabbing some lunch that I could eat while driving, and getting my son to his trumpet lesson (where I did get to weave in ends), there was no time to detour to a craft store, so I instead found myself investigating purse handle options online well after the errands had officially ended.

It took almost no time to find what I believed to be two suitable choices. I measured the width of three hexagons so that I would know which would be better only to discover neither would work because the bag I am making is going to be so large that it would do Mary Poppins proud.

My mind immediately began sorting through other options, and I came up with one solution that is actually kind of elegant in it’s simplicity, but I lack both the necessary woodworking tools and skills to make it.

So although this bag is not turning out to be the adventure I imagined it would be, sometimes it is necessary take a few steps back before proceeding forward.