**DISH RAG TAG SIGNUPS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE CHECK THE MAIN PAGE FOR DETAILS!**

Hi! I’ve got a couple of questions about Dish Rag Tag that I thought I should clarify for the group!

I’d like to sign up but I’m going to be away on vacation for part of August. Do you think that would be something we could work around?
Absolutely! Keep in touch with your team mates through the forums and can let them know that you shouldn’t be tagged while you are out of town.

Does this involve special computer skills in anyway?
Nope! If you can send email, blog or shop online you can do this.

How are teams getting assigned?
The Miracle Household will be assigning teams - I want as evenly matched a race (geography wise) as possible.

Do we leave all the dishrags and treats in the box as it goes along? That would get very heavy after a while…
I am a dope and didn’t clarify that! When you receive the box, you take everything out of it, keep the treat, the finished dish rag and one ball of dish rag cotton. Make your dishrag out of the other ball of cotton and put it, two new balls of cotton and a treat back into the box to send it on. Pick your treat carefully to keep you box less than a pound so that it stays $4.60 to mail priority any where in the US. I am correcting that in the original post. Sorry for the confusion!

Why do we have to use priority mail?
Basically to to keep the playing field even. By ensuring the same shipping speed for everyone (and the same inconvenience of a trip to the post office) this race is a more true contest of speed and organization. Team work will win the day!

Why aren’t you having the team captains stat the boxes?
Because it is more fair to have them all originate from one place. Everything will be mailed at exactly the same time and return to exactly the same place. There is no room for ambiguity, no accusations of unfairness etc. I have thought about this for almost a year.

Where do I send it after I get it? To the team captain or what?
The box is going to leave my house and travel through each team member once and then back to me. There is no set order for who is tagged next. Your team should communicate in the forum to decide where to send it. Strategy making is encouraged: get out your maps and plot the quickest course around the country, figure out who is out of town when and work together to achieve Dish Rag Tag Glory!

How much of my personal information is going to be out there for all the world to see?
Not much! When I post the teams, the list will be your first name (which will link to your blog if you have one, I left that off the registration form but there will be a chance to add it to your record when Michael builds that part of the application) and your state. The only people who will see your full name and address are the Miracle Household and whoever is mailing the box to you.

PS Registration for Dish Rag Tag is now available for Team Canada! We need 10 good Canadians to field a team - run over to the sign-up page and click the “I’m with Team Canada” link if you want to play along!
PPS Maybe I’ll show you some actual knitting next time!

**DISH RAG TAG SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE CHECK THE MAIN PAGE FOR DETAILS**

There is a dearth of Competitive Knitting out there. No really, there is. Here at Yarn Miracle, we want to change all that. That’s right! It’s the summer insanity you’ve all been waiting for! Time for:

Here’s the button! Take two, they’re small.

The Short Version:
Teams of Knitters will participate in a Dish Rag Knitting Relay Race that spans the 50 states.

Heard enough? Sign up here!

**DISH RAG TAG SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE CHECK THE MAIN PAGE FOR DETAILS**
***DISH RAG TAG SIGN-UPS fOR 2007 WILL CAP AT 200! I HAD NO IDEA Y’ALL WOULD BE THIS ENTHUSIASTIC!***

The Longer Version:
Teams of Knitters will participate in a Dish Rag Knitting Relay Race that spans the 50 states.
There will be a box (the baton) that circulates through the team.
Each box will be packed with a finished dish rag, two balls of dish rag cotton (you know the kind I mean: Sugar’n Cream, Peaches & Creme, or a similar cotton) and a small treat (stitch markers, a candy bar, one of those “what size is my needle” thingys).
When a knitter receives the box, the knitter will report that she or he is “it”, and empty the box keeping the enclosed dishrag and treat.
The knitter will then knit a new dishrag with the cotton in the box. The idea is to use one ball of yarn to make a dishrag and keep the other one for personal use, but that should not keep you from knitting a two color dish rag if you want.
Dish rags may be any pattern, but must be standard dishrag size: 9 inches square or in diameter.
**You may not start knitting your dishrag until you receive the box. This is cheating and will make William Henry cry. Not to mention ruining the fun for your whole team.**
When the dish rag is finished, it goes back in the box with two new balls of dish rag cotton and a small treat (see above) and will be Priority Mailed to an untagged team member. The first box to make it through a team’s members and return to the Miracle Household wins! Prizes will be announced at a later date.
The whole thing (even with priority shipping) should cost less than $12 per participant and take up a little more time than knitting a dishrag.

Heard enough? Sign up here.

The BEST Part
Michael is making us a relay race application. There will be forums for each team and we will be able to electronically monitor the progress of each box. Addresses will be stored in the Relay Race Manager Application - they will not be included in the boxes. To get the address for the person you are supposed to send it to next, you will log in with your secure password and pick the team member you want to tag and receive the mailing address for that person and that person only. Your address will be available to only me and the team member who is mailing the box to you.

Details and Rules:

**DISH RAG TAG SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE CHECK THE MAIN PAGE FOR DETAILS**
***DISH RAG TAG SIGN-UPS fOR 2007 WILL CAP AT 200! I HAD NO IDEA Y’ALL WOULD BE THIS ENTHUSIASTIC!***

Signups will happen from now until 12:00 am Central, Sunday, July 15, 2007.

Teams will be assigned and made public by Thursday, July 19, 2007.

The race will begin on August 1, 2007, when I mail all the team boxes.

Fed-Ex and Overnight Delivery are Prohibited. Participants must ship using the US Mail’s Priority Shipping. International knitters, my apologies and explanation for excluding you this go-round are at the bottom of this post.

Dish rags may be any pattern, any color, any shape. The two requirements are that they be Standard Dish Rag Size (9″ square or diameter) and made with the yarn you are “tagged” with.

Teams will consist of 6-10 Team Members. Number of teams will be determined by number of participants.

Teams will be assigned by the Yarn Miracle Household (because geography has to be considered to keep the playing field even).

There will be a Team Captain for each team who will moderate that team’s private forum (did I mention that there are team forums?). Team Captains will be responsible for communicating with me about their team’s status and will let me know if there are any obstacles that need hurdling. Teams are encouraged to develop winning strategies and communicate with each other. Oh, and make up team names - names are fun.

Boxes will not go in order down the list - you may not know that you are going to be tagged next - stay in touch with your team members in the forum to let them know if anything comes up (out of town for the weekend etc.) and you shouldn’t be tagged next. Have your pattern, two balls of cotton and treat ready at all times!

You may not start knitting your dishrag until you receive the box. This is cheating and will ruin things for your whole team. Cheating makes William Henry cry.

Included treats should remain small. The boxes won’t have room for much and you want to keep the box under a pound for the best shipping rate. (Priority Mail under 1 lb. is $4.60 to any zone.)

There will be prizes. I can’t tell you what yet. There will be prizes for the top three placing teams and additional individual prizes based on merit (even if your team is dead last, you have a chance at Personal Dish Rag Tag Glory). There are so many options! If any one would like to donate to the prize pool or has a great idea, I would love to hear from you! My plan is for the members of all placing teams to receive the same prize. And of course, everyone will receive a wonderful dish rag to enhance their kitchen or bathroom.

My Abject Apologies to International (to me) Knitters
I had a huge struggle to decide if this swap should be limited to the United States. I hate the idea of leaving any one out of something. But. It’s a race and it seemed like it wasn’t fair if one team had to ship their box to Czechoslovakia. I’ve been going back and forth on this for months. This is also the first time that I have tried something like this (it could be a complete disaster) so I have decided that for this particular Dish Rag Tag, I am going to limit it to the places that can be reached in 2-3 days by US Priority Mail. If this works, I will figure out how to make International Dish Rag Tag a success.
**UPDATE! CANADA WANTS TO TRY TO FIELD A TEAM! CLICK THE “I AM WITH TEAM CANADA” LINK ON THE SIGN UP PAGE TO JOIN UP!**

That’s all I’ve got! Email me with questions or sign up here!

FAQ POST HERE

***DISH RAG TAG SIGN-UPS fOR 2007 WILL CAP AT 200! I HAD NO IDEA Y’ALL WOULD BE THIS ENTHUSIASTIC!***

Christy is a Tricky Girl! In a bizarre twist of fate, as my Hurricane Sister was knitting a sock for me, I was knitting a sock for her! Cindi packed my swap box with loads of things to make hurricanes a happier event!

Not pictured: traditional pre-storm Brownie mix.
It is hidden from William Henry.

All kinds of stuff to keep me entertained the next time the power is out. I am not waiting for the power to go out to finish this pair of socks though. The pattern is the interesting and appropriately named Tidal Wave Socks by Deby Lake!

Looks like a heavy chop to me.

The yarn is the Anne Shaefer Yarn. It’s got a little bit of mohair in it that gives it a really pleasant halo. I am thrilled with all my goodies - thanks so much Cindi! And many thanks again to Christy for organizing another great (and hopefully storm-preventing) Hurricane Swap Party!

Stay tuned to Yarn Miracle (home of the non-traditional swap) for the details on an upcoming Summer Event! I know you’re asking yourself: Will the fun never end?

I didn’t knit much this weekend - but I do have a clean garage! I consider that a fair trade for an unfinished polo.

The back and part of the front.

I think I have figured out the pattern for the second of the RubySapphire Sock Club Socks. There isn’t much to show yet (I keep changing my mind and adjusting), but I started a general purpose sock with one of the Side Effect Patterns from that effort.

As a side effect sock, it should have a name like headache or nausea.

The yarn is the Instant Gratification in Chocolate Covered Kisses from Sue, my Special Swap Pal for February. You can see the stitch pattern better (there is a stitch pattern - I swear) when it the sock is stretched - it will look great in a solid yarn but I also like it in the Chocolate Covered Kisses. I’ll type the pattern up for general consumption after I get the heel turned and figure out what happens on the instep. I’ve actually got notes for a couple of Side Effect Patterns…

Maude in the sun.

She may have a new home - keep your fingers crossed!