Tag Archives: swap

Glory 2009

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:

2inbox

It landed just like that!

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

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

The box that jumped right into my hands belongs to…

2yarnia

Chronicles of Yarnia!

Which means…

That this box…

1inbox

This box that is nothing but packing tape…

Belongs to…

1ninjas

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.

The Best Part

I love almost everything about Dish Rag Tag. I really do.

But my favorite part is shopping for prizes. There are so many possibilities. So many different ways to go. So many great sellers on Etsy… The generosity of all of the DRT participants and the kindness of the handmade community combined to create an amazing selection of prizes for our top three teams!

This year’s prize pool began with an offer I wasn’t about to refuse: One Red Loop made Son of Dish Rag Tag stitch markers for the top three teams!

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Gold, Silver and Bronze loops!

Well, with this kind of beginning, there was no going back. All the prizes this year feature Etsy sellers!

For Third Place, I’ve added matching Knitting Notion bags from Chicken Britches:

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I’ve got one this size that holds all my stitch markers!

Here’s a detail of the bead and lining – the colors match this year’s logo (and the markers) perfectly!

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I love the beads.

For the Second Place Team, I came across pocket sized stitch gauges by KaratStix. The hole in the corner was begging for a key ring so I couldn’t help but add a tiny Starbucks gift card.

secondprize

Caffeine makes getting gauge so much easier.

Wait – look at the back:

secondprizeback

Yay!

And for First Place. I’ve had this one in the house the longest and I have really loved getting it out every now and then to look at it. For First Place…

from RubySapphire Yarns (my love of Lauri and Sam is no secret)

custom dyed Son of Dish Rag Tag sock yarn!

FirstPrize

To match the logo!

The name of the colorway?

firstprizetag

Of course.

But who will achieve the coveted Dish Rag Tag Glory? We might know as early as tomorrow – I expect a photo finish.

Halfway Winner

If you haven’t taken a look at the wonderful collection of dish cloth links in the comments of this post, you really should. Even though the Ball Band pattern is the obvious crowd favorite, there are many listed that were new to me! Including Wishy Washy Fishy Tawashi from Amanda that may be my most favorite of all time. The name alone makes me want to knit one, the picture makes me want to knit half a dozen.

But I won’t make you wait any longer…

The winner of our little half way contest will receive two balls of cotton, a pattern book and a set of 7″ US6 bamboo needles from Chiao Goo. Joan is responsible for the wealth of needles to be used as Dish Rag Tag prizes this year! I’ll tell you more about them when I get a minute to test drive a pair.

halfwayprize

The Random Number Generator has picked 26! Comment 26 belongs to Felicia! She had this to say about patterns:

When nothing in the knitting basket is going right, I usually whip out a ballband. But that’s been done to death before me! I also have done my fair share of Four Corners – but for the life of me, I can’t remember the blog I got it from. Did you see the pics from the hot pad swap? Amazing – and in single layers, would all make fantastic dishcloths!

I know this pattern well. I knit ten of them as starter dish rags for the Original Dish Rag Tag. Abigail (the Four Corners’ author and one of my favorite knitters) knit the the other ten. Abigail’s Four Corners Dishcloth can be found here.

Guess what? I just received an Etsy convo that the 2nd Place Team Prizes are ready! Just wait until you see them!

Half Way

The Dish Rag Tag Pack is past the halfway mark, but it’s still anybody’s game!

foursquares

I’m only 1/3 of the way to my goal.

I’m headed to Mary Esther* this weekend. With car and front porch knitting, I might just catch up to the pack. Let’s have a little Dish Rag contest to celebrate!

In the comments for this post, provide a link or the name (or book title or whatever) to your personal favorite dish cloth pattern. If you’ve made it 50 times and love it more than ever, tell me. If you’ve had it in your Ravelry queue for years but haven’t gotten around to actually knitting it yet, I’d like to know that too. I will provide a dish cloth related prize to one lucky winner (chosen by random number).

One comment per person, please, and you don’t have to be racing to enter or win. I’ll close the comments and pick a winner sometime on Tuesday.

*That’s the best entry I can find by searching. I wish I had thought more about categories and tags five years ago when I started this thing.

Prize – Fastest Turn-Around 2009

Be amazed: I took a picture!

FastestTurnAroundPrize

Ice Cream!

The prize for Fastest Turn-Around is this beautiful yarn form Hazel Knits in “Ice Cream Sundae” (courtesy of Lisa) and a Visa gift card for some real ice cream to go with it!

The winner of the Fastest Turn-Around Individual Merit Award is determined by speed and chance. Everyone who receives the box and manages to send it out again on the same day will be entered into a drawing. We will double check tracking information for accuracy – so entering those USPS tracking numbers is extremely important.

Also, here is some reading for today: My part of New York City is not burning. As always, I am feeling reflective.

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!