Ladies and gentlemen, we are over halfway to the end of the race.

We accidently got the mail on the way back from the park.

The team to squeeze into the top ten at the hands of our letter carrier?

KNITTING FOOLS!

Milky Way? What Milky Way… The stitch markers, needles and yarn aren’t edible so they are still around. Theresa, I love all the notes. They really made me giggle. Theresa also knit a sweet, crisp white dish cloth for her Captain, Joan.

And team the eleventh is

Dish Rag Run!

See that little pink thing (the little white thing is yummy soap by the way) from Barbara? That is a computer screen cleaner. It’s very good at what it does (just ask Ellie – my laptop is sparkling), but when I unpacked it I thought “hedgehog!” I’m not the only one who felt this way: here’s a tutorial about how to turn a larger size in to a stuffed buddy! Your Captain, Jaymi, will love her dish cloth, the colors are wonderful (and put me in a sweater knitting frame of mind).

Thank you so much to everyone, big congratulations on the completion of the race!

Halfway to the grande finale! I need to work on CounterPain Squares.

Son of Dish Rag Tag Round-Up
1… Needling Ninjas 9/30/2009
2… Chronicles of Yarnia 9/30/2009
3… Wicked Sticks 10/1/2009
4… Peaches & Speed 10/3/2009
5… Fast Track Knitters 10/5/2009
6… The Knitty Gritty 10/5/2009
7… Purls ‘n Paws 10/8/2009
8… The Team With No Name 10/8/2009
9… Triskaidekaphobia 10/9/2009
10..KNITTING FOOLS 10/10/2009
11..Dish Rag Run 10/10/2009

Let me tell you, this week has just about done me in. The only thing keeping me going is the steady return of the Dish Rag Tag boxes!

Who could it be?

Triskaidekaphobia!

ooOOOooo creeeepy

The team name is totally on the box, I just really liked the spiders. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn’t get to take pictures in the Natural Light of Day* so attractive (ahem) tungsten lighting and the kitchen counter it is! At least I’m keeping up!

Picked me right up!

Mandy, you made my day! The wee tiny blocker evokes fond Wee Tiny Sock Memories and just knowing the Starbucks gift card is in the house has lifted my spirits immeasurably. It’s going to purchase the most fatty delicious drink on the menu and I am Not Kidding. I’m thinking mint hot chocolate with half and half. *drool* I think my cholesterol just went up six points at the thought. I know the sea blue (it’s kind of turquoise, really pretty – even in the tungsten) dish cloth will have a happy home with your Captain Kim.

Thank you so much, Mandy, and congratulations to Triskaidekaphobia for successful completion of this year’s race!

Son of Dish Rag Tag Round-Up
1… Needling Ninjas 9/30/2009
2… Chronicles of Yarnia 9/30/2009
3… Wicked Sticks 10/1/2009
4… Peaches & Speed 10/3/2009
5… Fast Track Knitters 10/5/2009
6… The Knitty Gritty 10/5/2009
7… Purls ‘n Paws 10/8/2009
8… The Team With No Name 10/8/2009
9… Triskaidekaphobia 10/9/2009

*Seriously, Ellie must have hit her head at least six times this morning and wept like the world was ending each time. She’s got a great bruise on her cheek from the most eventful collision. Fingers crossed for a kinder day tomorrow.

Two more! But when I saw them on the porch, I thought it was just one.

One of the boxes is Incognito.

Upon closer inspection, it was determined that the seventh box to finish the race belongs to:

Purls ‘n Paws!

Their Dish Rag love just could not be contained by that tiny box.

Kitty Pez is just so appropriate!

Thank you so much, Kathy! Your Captain Natalie will love her dish cloth – I can’t get over how good these look with the self-striping yarn! The needle size thingy has BOTH SIZES of twos and threes! I love it: the “what size is this two anyway” will never plague me again. Thank you to the whole team for the magnets and the postcards, Ellie enjoys them *almost* as much as I do! Do you see the cow magnet? Ellie moos to it.

In eighth place, we have the team formerly known as Team 18:

The Team With No Name!

The Team With No Name has finished the race in their original box! The last leg of the race was handled by Marie (she has one of my favorite blog titles of all time)! Sorry you had to wait until the end of the race, but I certainly benefitted from it. The notebook is so cute, the candy is gone and hey! the yarn matched the son of Dish Rag Tag logo! Awesome. That delicious dish cloth is destined for Captain Gwyn. Gwyn, if your mind works the way mine does, you should run out and get some orange sherbet now and save yourself some time.

Thank you very much to everyone and congratulations of completing the race!

Son of Dish Rag Tag Round-Up
1… Needling Ninjas 9/30/2009
2… Chronicles of Yarnia 9/30/2009
3… Wicked Sticks 10/1/2009
4… Peaches & Speed 10/3/2009
5… Fast Track Knitters 10/5/2009
6… The Knitty Gritty 10/5/2009
7… Purls ‘n Paws 10/8/2009
8… The Team With No Name 10/8/2009

Five and Six have arrived!

The mailman met us in the driveway, I swapped a bill for boxes.

Box five had no markings, I checked the team listings to find out that it belongs to the Fast Track Knitters!

Yay!

My Alabama neighbor, Lila, knit the final leg for her team! The dish cloth turned out so well in stripes that Captain Lisa will flip for it. Many thanks, Lila!

Every Fast Track Knitter included a post card from their state! I have included them in the contents picture. This is because I learn from my mistakes: the Wicked Sticks sent postcards. I tried to get a great picture but this was the best I could do:

In the chair is my new policy!

The sixth team to finish the race did so in spite of illness and an 11th hour Alternate! Truly a remarkable finish for

The Knitty Gritty!

Edith, perhaps the hero of Son of Dish Rag Tag, packed a great box for us to open!

Ellie played with the suckers all afternoon – don’t tell they’re candy.

Thank you so much, Edith! Captain Cheryl will fall in love with her dish cloth. I always think: TOO PRETTY FOR DISHES when I open these boxes. The Knitty Gritty included one more thoughtful touch:

Plus a swirly purple button and tea! Great idea!

Many thanks to both teams! And congratulations on completing the race!

I hope to get the “Race Complete” blog buttons and the prizes together and in the mail by this weekend. But no promises, it took me all day just to write this post!

Son of Dish Rag Tag Round-Up
1… Needling Ninjas 9/30/2009
2… Chronicles of Yarnia 9/30/2009
3… Wicked Sticks 10/1/2009
4… Peaches & Speed 10/3/2009
5… Fast Track Knitters 10/5/2009
6… The Knitty Gritty 10/5/2009

The fourth box to make it back to Alabama belongs to

Peaches & Speed

No picture in the mail box for you – Michael picked up the mail!

Stephanie, you really packed this box! Thank you so much! All the team members signed the instruction sheet – a fun touch. Your captain, Anita will love the sunny dish cloth. Congratulations, Peaches & Speed, on a great finish!

Ellie and I rolled out onto the porch for our post lunch stroller excursion to the mailbox and nearly tripped over our third place team!

The big box is the reason the mail is on the porch.

Son of Dish Rag Tag’s third pace team is

Wicked Sticks! In the original box!

Biggest congratulations to all of you for Dish Rag Tag Glory!

And inside the Wicked Sticks box!

Thank you so much Marie! Whoever is the brain child behind the little Crafty Girl tins must have made a mint! (Get it? Because there are mints inside. The jokes just keep coming.) I can’t wait to empty the tin so that stitch markers can live inside – I think I’ll start right now… *munch munch* I know Captain Lauran will love her striped dish cloth!

While I am exposing contents to you, let’s catch up a little from yesterday.

From the Needling Ninjas.

Many thanks, Sara! I love the stitch marker (actually from Kara – see comments) and row counter bracelet (from Sara) combination. You know how I love it when things match (it was Fate). Captain Amanda totally deserves those beautiful blues.

Chronicles of Yarnia contents.

First let me say: Kelsey, you must have sat on this thing to get it to close! Two balls of yarn, a drawstring bag AND there was room left for chocolate. My dad the Master Packer would be so proud. Thank you very much, and I know your Captain Toni will thank you for the dish cloth too.

That’s all for me today! Ted needs some attention. Who’s Ted? I’ll tell you tomorrow. You’ll love him.

Let me get right to it. I haven’t even opened them because I know there are knitters out there developing ulcers from the stress.

Today is a great day for Dish Rag Tag. When I opened the mailbox, this slid right out:

It landed just like that!

I got out my sharpie marker and labeled it right away.

The first out is the last delivered. There’s another box in the back.

The box that jumped right into my hands belongs to…

Chronicles of Yarnia!

Which means…

That this box…

This box that is nothing but packing tape…

Belongs to…

Needling Ninjas!

I thought the suspense was going to kill me. Congratulations to both teams for the most amazing race yet. I was sweating there towards the end!

I would also like to point out: that’s my handwriting on the boxes. These are the same fragile little Flat Rate boxes that began this race a month ago. The boxes that I was pretty sure wouldn’t make it through three team members survived a whirlwind tour of the US. These things are held together with sheer will…and an entire roll of packing tape. It brings a tear to my eye.