Back in those first few months after the Black Saturday bushfires, I had all the best intentions of knitting blanket squares for Bushfire Blankets of Friendship. But after making possum pouches, SES hats and charity scarves I kind of ran out of steam. So when my local s’n’b group recently took a whole lot of the squares to sew up into blankets, I thought I’d get involved.

Last Saturday I grabbed a bag. Here’s most of the contents, laid out in what I hope is a reasonably balanced arrangement:

There were some nice stripey ones. But then something occurred to me about those stripey ones.

Look at all those bl**dy ends.

A handful of the squares had unfinished ends, but only about two to four of them. It’s reasonable to think that ends might even be used to sew the squares together. But that many ends? I figured the most efficient way to deal with them was to crochet around the edge, working the ends in. These squares were a bit smaller than the rest, so they could do with being enlarged.

So I made a start on the first square. It took over an hour, and the crochet border is more like overstuffed piping. And I can tell you, some VERY uncharitable thoughts were going through my head. Especially when I found there was a join in the middle of the square, and the two ends left hanging were less than an inch long.

Thank goodness there are only three squares like this. But now that I’ve got plans to crochet around some squares, I feel like I ought to crochet around a few more to, you know, make the whole thing look consistent and balanced. Just the ones that are a bit on the small side.

I think this blanket may take a bit longer than I originally thought.