Alabama has had record-breaking sustained temperatures over the past several weeks. It’s been Excessively Hot even by South Alabama Standards. I blame the heat for my recent reluctance to knit anything but CounterPain Squares.

Ten.

Ten more and I will be “caught up” to my goal of 52 squares this year.* Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot is going on this week.

Even though my recent accomplishments are less than impressive, several things have happened over the last month or so that I might have forgotten to mention.

I made an afghan.

Hmm. This is a lovely photograph of the wrong side of the afghan.

Why I thought an afghan was a good idea at this particular time of year, I really couldn’t tell you. But there is Snug (the link goes right to the pdf) in Patons Shetland Chunky. I like the yarn – especially for an acrylic/wool blend – and it comes in some very nice colors like Butter. I am thinking of using it for the tree skirt and stockings in Handknit Holidays. Much less expensive than Lopi and much less dangerous to store in the attic.

Our Annual Yard Kitten was found by the Critter Sitter while we were at camp. She is a little calico, had to have part of her tail amputated (it was broken), is named Ivy and lives at the vet where she is spoiled (Critter Sitter works at our vet – all of these events took place while we were out of town). When we got home we took her a We’re-So-Happy-Your-Home-Is-Not-With-Us-Six-Cats-Are-Plenty Present. William Henry is happy that he is still the baby.

The Mary Esther Edition of the RubySapphire Sock Club arrived!

William Henry tore the hole in the bag to get to the candy.

That’s my pattern in there! I made it myself! Now I spend a lot of time worrying that I managed to make Many Serious and Tragic Mistakes in the pattern that will cause everyone to blog about what a terrible pattern writer I am. All I know is that the pattern works fine for me – I’ve made it twice!

Maude behaved beautifully at the pet adoption on Saturday and may have found herself a new family! We are going on a Home Visit tonight to see how she gets along with the resident beagle. I very sincerely hope that this goes well – they have a fenced back yard and everything.

I remembered** the fourth Individual Merit Award for Dish Rag Tag! It’s Miss Congeniality! I will start taking nominations/votes from Participants after half the boxes have made it back to me (I will make an announcement). The winner will be based upon the number of nominations/votes an individual receives.

As a quick update – when I checked on tags this afternoon, the Rapid Rag Relayers lead the pack with 8 tags! But Hip-knit-tized, POST knITS and Running Ragged are right on their heels with 7 each! Don’t forget to send in (that is: email me) your Dish Rag KIP pictures and submit your finished Tag Dish Rags for the other Individual Merit Awards.

*Not necessarily a square a week – just 52 in one year. But you have to keep a handle on things and if I have any hope of hitting that goal, I should have around 32 at this point.
**After I looked it up in my notes.

Will you look what’s in the hotel room closet?

I think the Universe wants me to iron the lime green polo’s facings.

I’m not at home. I’m in Raleigh. Michael is attending an event called the “Ruby Hoedown” (Ruby is his programming language of choice)*. This is good news for you, Dear Reader: I took pictures of the Dish Rag Tag Team Prizes before I left, remembered to bring the camera (AND the camera cable) and as travel knitting I have brought the unfinished green polo and CounterPain squares. Avoiding both these projects has provided me with suitable motivation for a blog post that has been too long in coming.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in addition to Dish Rag Tag Glory, The members of the First Dish Rag Tag Team to complete the race will receive:

A dye-your-own sock yarn kit!

Each kit will contain a skein of Knitpicks’ Bare Superwash Merino (the tweedy kind that will look great dyed a solid color), a packet of Cushing Acid Dye in one of a rainbow of colors, a disposable dust mask and a pair of disposable gloves. Not a sock knitter? The Superwash Merino is also great for shawls, book marks, coffee cup cozies, doll blankets…

Second Place Dish Rag Tag Team Members will receive:

A set of hand-painted Peace Fleece knitting needles!

The ends are hand painted wood with pretty flower designs in a variety of colors, the needle part is also wood that has been sanded smooth and pointy (all the pieces come from different places but since I am here** and the needles are at home I can’t tell you where those places might be).

Third Place Dish Rag Tag Team Members will receive:

A beautiful, hand-made row-counter!

I love these! They are ingeniously designed with 10 beads that slide neatly up and down the loopy bits to keep count of how many rows you have completed. The beads all look like candy (every marker is different). They were made by Joanne who has a knitting shop of her very own – every girl’s dream! She helped me make these great prizes possible – so everyone should run over and thank her for her kindness (and sign up for the Continental Knitting workshop if you are in the area).

There are also a number of Individual Merit Awards that can be earned by any Team member regardless of Team Performance. Unfortunately, I left my list of prizes at home (remembering to bring the camera cable seriously taxed my resources) but the categories are as follows:

• Fastest Turn-Around – This will be based on the Dish Rag Tag Application’s Tag Logs, which is why entering the actual date of mailing is so important.
• Most Complex Tag Dish Rag – This will be awarded to the Dish Rag Tag Participant who completes the most complicated dishrag pattern as part of the race. To enter, email me a picture of your finished Tag Dish Rag and the details of the pattern you used. If it’s too late for a picture – just let me know and I can contact the recipient of your dishrag for photographic evidence.
• Best/Most Interesting Dish Rag Knitting in Public Picture – Anyone may enter to win this Merit Award. Simply email a picture of yourself knitting a dishrag in an unusual or exciting Public Area. The Ivey Household (including Great Gran) will select 5 finalists. The 5 finalists will appear in a blog entry and be voted on by the Knitting Public At Large.
• I know that there is at least one more – but I can’t for the life of me think of what it might be. You’ll have to wait until I get home and look at my list.

The Race seems to be going just swimmingly (five Tags have been started today)! It is so exciting to watch the boxes show up on various blogs around the country*** and to watch the status bars get longer with each tag!

*He claimed that the last Ruby event was no fun without me. He also claimed that it would take us nine hours to get up here. While the first claim may have been the truth, the second was a Big Fat Lie.
**I love the hotel! There is a tiny kitchen with a refrigerator that makes ICE! I also suspect that there is yarn in the vicinity.
***Usually after the box has already left – it’s all about Speed, baybee.

I warned him a couple weeks ago about Dish Rag Tag.

The race has officially begun! And so has this afternoon’s thunderstorm, so that’s all you get today – I am going to read a nice non-conductive book.