Combine multiple sketch segments/contours into a single contour

How do you combine multiple sketch segments/contours into a single contour (for Extruding, etc.)?

I want to extrude a thin feature from a sketch like this one, or create an offset feature that has a single outer loop.  (If you create a 2-sided offset using this sketch, there are loops created for each segment - so it requires a lot of manual trimming before extrusion.)

SolidworksGeneral