Care to knit a square?

Care to knit a square? That's the question that Kelli Ann posed in a Ravelry forum ...

J’aimerais demander à mes amis qui savent tricoter, de fabriquer ensemble une couverture en laine. Le patron ne demande que la base du tricot (tricot à 5 aiguilles en rond, point à l’endroit, augmentations dans les coins) et une petite quantité de laine à chaussettes belle et douce… Ensemble, nous pouvons assembles nos carrées en un ‘patchwork’ qui peut être mis en vitrine et fera l’objet d’un tirage au profit de la Société Canadienne du Cancer.

I’d like to ask my knitting friends to help me make a blanket, one that requires a basic knowledge of knitting (technique with 5 needles, with increases) and a small amount of soft, quality sock yarn. Together, we can sew up our separate squares and produce a lovely ‘patchwork’ that can be displayed here in town and raffled off to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society.

I've knit three squares. The first was knit with MCN from Zarzuela's Fibers. I've named this square Hurricane Sandy, because I was knitting while watching tracking the storm through TV coverage, and because of the swirling blues. The second was knit from 100% Merino from Shelridge Farms. This square is named "Through the dark Spruce" a take-off of the name of an award-winning Canadian novel because of the forest-y colours. For the final square, "Easter Parade", I tried out the pattern with some self patterning sock yarn.

The square is from the book Knitalong and to be honest I wasn't too sure about the pattern when I started these. The square begins by casting on 12 sts and then increasing from there but that leaves a noticeable hole. Fortunately that hole is easily closed when weaving in the first yarn tail. The outside edges of the square curl but that will resolve itself once the squares are assembled into the blanket. The centre of the square puffs out a bit after knitting but the square flattened out quite readily with blocking. I thought I'd better wash and block these just to make sure all the dyes were colourfast; wouldn't it be a nightmare if one of them ran and ruined an entire assembled quilt?!

Mostly I'm glad they're done; they'll be in the mail tomorrow. Lately things have been several notches past hectic and I've been feeling a lot of pressure. My focus over the coming days and weeks is to finish the things I've already started and get to work on the things I've already committed to. Well, that and to say "no" to every new project - no matter how tempting - from now until Christmas. Wish me luck; this is not something I've ever succeeded at before.