Ladies and Gentlemen. Almost one month to the day* since the race began, we have a First Place Team!

Team Hip-Knit-Tised!

What dedication to Teammates! What devotion to competition! What yummy chocolate inside!

As you can see, Deborah (KS) packed the box full of fun stuff for me: Peaches & Creme in a colorway I haven’t seen (patriotic dish cloths), Post-it notes with matching highlighters (heehee), chocolate (those new Russell Stover Private Reserve which I highly recommend) and the all-important dish rag (I love the YO edges). Thank you so much Deborah and congratulations to the entire Hip-Knit-Tised Team!

Second and Third Places in the race are still up-for-grabs – as well as all of the Individual Merit Awards! The prizes for those are as follows:

• Fastest Turn Around – A one-of-a-kind pair of blockers from Becky of Leggy Creations! Because you really have to Leg It to get the box back in the mail on the same day.
• Best Dish Rag KIP Picture – A skein of Trekking sock yarn (color 76) provided by Kathy! Get it? Because you have to trek out of the house to KIP? Maybe I am not as funny as I think I am.
• Most Complex Stitch Pattern – A set of stitch markers made by Ebinla! Stitch markers just make sense.
• Miss Congeniality – A precious sweet (much like a Miss Congeniality herself) Nifty Notions Keeper hand-made by Kristin**!

I am adding another category to the Individual Merit Awards: Best Dish Rag Tag Hard Luck Story. To enter this one, blog about your horrendous, frustrating or disastrous Dish Rag Tag Experience and email me the perma-link. We’ll pick the top five and then they will be voted on by the public at large. If you have already sent me the link to your Hard Luck Story for fun, would you please send it to me again to enter? The prize for this one: stitch markers of course! This set is from Carrie, Team Captain of Going the Dish-Tance.

I’ve got one more Top Secret Merit Award up my sleeve and I’m not going to tell you what it is or what it’s for. Surprises can be fun!

I will to leave you with this verse inscribed by Sue on the outside of the Hip-Knit-Tised box:

Thru wind and storms
As dark as Night
I’ll Knit my cloth with
All my Might.

Knit on to Dish Rag Tag Glory.

* As near as Labor Day Weekend would allow anyway.
**Who, it amuses me to see, has posted a lolcat from today’s cheezburger.