Monthly Archives: August 2009

Personal Dish Rag Tag Challenge

Since I don’t get to race in Dish Rag Tag, I like to give myself a personal challenge while the race is happening. This year, I am going to make twelve CounterPain Squares before the final box makes its way back to me.

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That’s one.

Last year, I made 12 before the first box got back. Last year, Ellie took 150% more naps. Last year, I wasn’t trying to make toys for my Yarn Miracle Etsy shop at the same time. I’ve lowered my expectations to compensate for the change in circumstances.

I’ve colored my Dish Rag Tag Goal Squares with purple in the Epic CounterPain Square Tracker (you can find it in the sidebar). The blue squares are my yearly goal for 2009. Brown represents completed squares (the big block at the top shows how many I’ve joined together).

This graphic will update with my progress.

Can I do it and still manage to keep up with everything else? I think so.

But only time will tell.

If you need some exposition about this whole Epic CounterPain Thing, please see this post.

Check, Please

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Official Dish Rag of Son of Dish Rag Tag:

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Simple to follow. Easy to knit. And it doubles as a checker board!

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Or, if you’ve got more brain than I, a chess board.

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This set is an Etsy find that I acquired by surprise (surprise is another word for Fate). It seems like an appropriate gift for Dish Rag Tag’s Most Valuable Player this year.

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Here’s the opposing side.

Our MVP this year will win the pebble chess set and some matching cotton to knit a board. Make it as a Christmas gift, or a birthday present, or a travel set to put in the car.

To nominate someone for MVP, just email me or leave a comment with your Most Valuable Player’s first name and team (or state of origin). Everyone “nominated” will be part of a random drawing for the prize after the race ends. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you about it several times between now and then.

More prizes coming soon!

Teams, Captains and Bedtime

Teams for Son of Dish Rag Tag have been assigned!

Login to dishragtag to meet your teammates and Captain!

In case you were wondering, Team Captains were assigned on a “who signed up first” basis. Like last year, there were enough volunteers to have an all new set of captains this year! More people get Leadership Opportunities this way. Login, update your profile, meet your captain and start thinking strategy!

Two things to remember:
1) Check in with your captain before August 24 or you will be replaced with an alternate!
2) I forgot my password resets are manual and I am going to bed. If you need a reset, it will have to wait until tomorrow!

Night, y’all.

PS The “contact Team Captain” and “Send Team Message” links are in the yellow navigation bar on the team page. (I think they are at the bottom of the page too.)

By the Way

If any of you still have DRT widgets up on your blogs from last year’s race, they are “broken” now and you should probably delete them. You can get the new ones for your Son of Dish Rag Tag team as soon as team assignments are made.

For Reals This Time

Dish Rag Tag sign-ups are really closed this time!

We have 204 knitters signed up to race (it might really be 203 – we’re not sure if that’s counting me or not). That means 20 teams of 10 and three (or maybe four) alternates!

Team Assignments are coming soon. Possibly tonight. It’s a diaper washing night so there’s certainly time.

PS Alternates, I will contact you directly. Don’t worry, we needed every single alternate and then some last year!

Blogaversary the Sixth

Once again, I completely missed my Blogaversary. It was Friday. That’s six years of Yarn Miracle. My blog could be starting first grade.

And Dish Rag Tag Sign-ups closed last night at midnight…

Except that I’ve decided that Sign-ups are open until Wednesday!

Because there’s time. And there’s room and the more the merrier right? That only delays the team sorting by a few days, there will still be two solid weeks to make a strategy!

If you want to get in to the forums or to fiddle with your profile there IS a link on the sign-up page. You can also login here.

PS I’ve started on the official dish rag pattern. It would be moving much more quickly if I could count. Sheesh.