I was *this close* to "finishing up the folding over and sewing of the handles" and something started bothering me.  The cord was making the right and left edge bow out more than I liked.  See it on the left?  I didn't want my purse to gape open like that.  I want it to lay closed more flatly, like on the right.

The other thing that was bothering me is that with one big cord in the handles, they would never stretch ... and stretching is the only hope I have that they will ever fit over my shoulder.  

sigh ...

So I un-sewed most of the handle-fold-over-ness.  The reason I didn't just thread the rope pieces through is that I wanted to secure them in place by sewing them to the crochet at around their midpoint.  This way, when the handles stretch, the cord will stay centered.  Above you can see the simple anchoring I did.

To keep the rope from unraveling, I tied some yarn around the ends.  When making my segments, I would put two ties around the cord and cut in between them.

Snip!  

I also put a piece of cord in the front and back sections to pad the top edge of the purse.  See how nicely the purse lays closed since there is a cordless space on the side?  All the ends are woven in and the handles are COMPLETELY done.  For reals.  Whew.

I actually had more cord left over than I thought I would.  It's enough to save, don't you think? ;)

I've had a couple of ideas about how to do the lining and I can't wait to try them out ... soon, I hope!