Under those circumstances I think you did well to get what you have there. If you had been able to get to the Chat Room I probably would have suggested you try a stub tang single pin handle. With that method you could have attached an entire tree for a handle and shaped it into just about anything. I make most all my knives that way because it really allows you to show off a nice piece of wood to it's best advantage, the balance of the knife is usually improved, and if properly implemented this method provides a very strong handle. You can read a description of the method here if interested:
http://www.rayrogers.com/stubtang.htm