All Tied Up

 

 Still working furiously on the Secret Santa crocheted crafter's tote. It's official. I won't get it finished in time. Can't get the thread I need even for the compromised version of the simple rectangle bottom in place of the Mobius strip that was to serve as bottom/sides/carry strap. So I'm putting all of my focus on getting the 8 strips finished and joined into the two panels and the two panels joined to form a bag without a bottom.  If I can get it this far so that it looks at first glance like what it is meant to be and not obviously unfinished with tails of thread trailing and pieces under construction, I may wrap it anyway.  Then after Christmas as soon as I can order the thread online and get it I will resume work on the Mobius strip and as soon as it is done join it to the bag and have the original vision intact.

At this moment I am on the last few rows of the third square of the 8th strip of 11 4x4 squares.  The stitch pattern is called Loops and is primarily single crochet with every forth row a change of color and the creation of 9 loops of twelve chains every fourth stitch.  These loops are later interlocked.  The first square took me days back in October and November and I almost gave up on it but loved it so much I kept it.  The second square took me around four hours on Tuesday and the Third square was on track to take three hours yesterday when I had to quit after making the same mistake several times in a row and having to remove the same half dozen stitches.  It was time to rest both eyes and brain.

I'm hoping the time it takes per square will continue to trend down a bit more.  Two hours per square by the time I get to the fifth would relive a lot of the anxiety about getting the strip done in time to get the joining process going in time.

Speaking of time.  It is time to get back to work.