Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

North Georgia Knitting Guild plans to knit an afghan or two as a charity project. The blocks need to be exactly 8-inches square. I decided to try a square for a quick change of pace. Sometimes a knitter needs instant gratification. Fortunately, I have the full run of Knitter's magazine's afghan series. Those of you who know my fondness for geometry will not be surprised that I picked the block by Linda Cyr in The Great North American Afghan booklet (Sioux Falls SD: XRX, Inc. 1999, second printing 2008, pp. 40-41). The North American afghan is the second booklet in this series. In addition to the geometry, I liked that this block is worked from the center out, which meant that I could knit until it was big enough. And I could fudge and add a few border rows at the end if it came out to seven inches square instead of eight. I got lucky, and it seems to be right on the money at eight inches square. The booklet lists this as one of the five hardest blocks, but I don't...