DRT: The Big Swag Reveal

Did Ellie and I had fun unpacking these boxes? Oh my YES!

goodies

A-Nine-Ilators goodies!

From Heather (who is truly Heatherific)! Not only did I get a great dish cloth, but Ellie has really been enjoying all the tiny hotel treats! Her favorite:

no rain in here

Shower caps are AWESOME.

Heather, you know what little girls like best. Mama’s too – I really enjoyed my cup of tea this afternoon. Thank you so much for everything, and many thanks to the A-Nine-Ilators Team Captain, Karen, for guiding her team to a remarkable First Place Finish!

bubble bubble

Bubble gum! Bubble gum!

Next up is 3x the Charm, with a pocket full of Double Bubble and a beautiful dish cloth from Michelina. I love the teal AND the stitch markers! AND the gum. No pictures of bubbles – they don’t last long. Three cheers for Captain Lesley (no longer of AL) who moved her team towards glory while moving house.

And then, the Purls Gone Wild box! Have you got a minute? This is going to take one.

so. much. stuff.

Look at all the stuff!

Postcards and magnets from everywhere and stickers! Ellie had penguins on her legs at dinner. A wonderful fall colored dish cloth from Donna and sparkly sparkly yarn. The little pattern back there is from Pam, I already got out my yarn to make a catnip mouse. The magnets are on the ‘fridge, the postcards are going to get in our scrapbook and we offer congratulations to Captain Nicole for this nail-biting finish!

Also, whoever invented these is some kind of creepy genius:

bracelets

She has never seen them before, but knew exactly what to do with them. (They are Cat in the Hat – always a popular choice in this house.)

One more round of thanks to everyone for all of our treats! And another round of thanks for making this a spectacular race so far!

But wait there’s more! Four more teams have tagged me – it’s going to be an exciting week!

DRT: Winners Circle

Ellie and I were ready for the early mail delivery today! It’s a good thing:

two ooh!

Two boxes today!

First out is last delivered, so in Third Place we have…

Yay!

Purls Gone Wild!

And last out is first delivered so Second Place goes to…

uh

Um. I don’t know who.

It appeared to be the original box so when we got inside, we spent several minutes peeling back layers of mailing levels to discover…

peeled

3x the Charm!

Yay! Hooray! Three cheers for 3x! The crowd goes wild for the Purls!

It won’t let me post in your team forums for some reason (and Michael is off watching football with Great Gran), so I offer congratulations here! 3x the Charm, I will be in touch with Team Captain Lesley to see which bag color y’all want (red or turquoise – the A-NINE-ILATORS have picked purple), so make your wishes known to her!

I’ll so a big Reveal of box contents tonight or tomorrow – I’ve promised not to open the new ones until Ellie is up from her nap.

Dish Rag Tag V Final Standings
A-NINE-ILATORS……..10/7/2011
3x The Charm……….10/8/2011
Purls Gone Wild…….10/8/2011

DRT: Unexpected Finish

It’s the craziest thing. Our mail comes around 11:00am. Yesterday, I didn’t manage to get to the mail box until 1:30pm. I had mail. But no Dish Rag Tag boxes.

This morning we went to put the cards in the mailbox and found this:

Hi, Rick!

So either we get mail twice a day or our mail comes at 8 in the morning.

We didn’t even have the camera. It belongs to these folks:

Look!

Congratulations, A-NINE-ILATORS!

I was so astonished, I’m writing this post before we’ve even opened the box. CONGRATULATIONS on Dish Rag Tag Glory!

More at nap time, I had to negotiate with Ellie for a lot of pipecleaners to be able to write this much.

DRT Update: Tell Them What They’ve Won

I’ve done something a little different with the Dish Rag Tag Prizes this year. Once I had the idea, I just couldn’t stop myself!

purple red blue

Tote Bags!

The first place team gets to pick their color first (red, purple or blue). Second place can decide between the two colors remaining and third place has the decision made for them. The bags are designed and printed by Erin of KitchTowels.

don't try this at home

Please don’t really run with needles.

Prizes this year were sponsored by a four year Dish Rag Tag Veteran, Wen (slowknitter). I often say that life gets in the way of knitting, but she still found a way to participate for the fifth year of the race. Many thanks to Wen for the support, and to all of you for making Dish Rag Tag special every time.

Oh. NO.

This is what happens when you start feeling confident of the pattern, certain that you will finish a project in time and so good about yourself that you stop counting stitches.

argh!

ARGH

It’s either ladder back through eight or so rounds or pull out eight or so rounds of a couple hundred stitches each. I laddered. Here’s how to do it.

You’ll need two double pointed needles and nerves of steel. This is much much MUCH worse with a complicated lace pattern, but it still makes me want to vomit.

Sort your stitches out to isolate the chunk that needs fixing. Mark the mistake threading one double pointed through the ‘bad’ stitches, picking them up to secure them. Leave the good stitches on the main needles to either side of the contaminated ones. Let the isolated group leave the needle and then gently unravel (so you don’t mess up the tension of the surrounding stitches) those stitches row by row to meet the DPN.

eeek

I had to take out a big chunk because the YOs advance on a slope.

If you are smart (I wasn’t, I was panicked), put needle stoppers on the ends of the needles holding the ‘good’ stitches to prevent those from getting away from you.

Sort out the stitches on the DPN so that they slope the right way and carefully reknit each of the rows one at a time.

urgh

I find it easier to hold the ‘working’ yarn in my left hand and pick up the stitches through the loops so I can see what I’m doing.

If you get the stitches on the needle so they slope backwards (like I was doing above – panicked again), just be sure to turn them around before you continue with the next row. Persevere until everything is all sorted out and back where it belongs.

whew

I have a couple rough spots, but they should smooth out with blocking.

Sigh with relief, reward yourself with chocolate and knit carefully for the rest of your project.

DRT Update: Halfway Mark

I was counting tags just now, and it looks like both Eight’s Great and the A-Nine-ilators have made their sixth tag!

And before the prizes are even here! I expect them in the mail today but I just couldn’t wait to say GO TEAMS!

Does anyone have any Dish Rag Tag V stories or posts to share in the comments?