Nine Times Three Equals...

Last night was all about the blankie. Once more I spent my evening slogging through the garter stitch but it was accompanied by a spirited discussion with Stinky over the relative done-ness of the blankie. She has grown impatient.
I'm not sure if it has more to do with her wanting to snuggle up with the blankie or that the blankie is getting in the way when she wants to snuggle up with me each night (let me tell you, it is super hard to knit with an 8 year old in your lap). It could really be easily attributable to either of these.
No matter... she looked at it last night and counted up the strips on each side of the center square. She came up with six on each and pronounced it done. But wait I said, there are still 3 more strips to do. The blankie used 9 colors and I wanted to repeat each an equal number of times. Wouldn't 7 be a nicer number... a lucky number even?
Stinky was appeased and I started the next strip. Now the question is, what do I do with the last strip. To make things even, I'd need 4 more strips (including the one in process right now) but there are only 3 colors left. Do I leave it slightly uneven with 7 strips on 3 sides and 6 on one? Do I go back to the first color in the strip progression? Should I do another 9 strips to make it all come out even? What about if I take the color of the middle square, use it for the last strip and then continue it around the perimeter as an edging?
I have 2 and a half strips to complete before I need to decide.