what might have been

Some time at the beginning of August I signed up to play this year's edition of Dish Rag Tag. It's a knitting race where teams of 12 compete to be the first team to successfully pass a box through all 12 members of their team and have it cross the finish line first. The finish line is Emily's house in Alabama. The race starts at her home and ends there as well. There are some fun prizes too! The box contains a ball of cotton yarn, a dishcloth, a pattern and various other instructions and goodies. When you get the box, you keep the dishcloth, use the ball of cotton yarn to knit a new dishcloth (using the pattern). Then you send that dishcloth along with a new ball of cotton yarn and various other goodies to the next knitter on your team. (got all of that?) The teams include knitters from all over the United States. There are 289 knitters participating this year! Our box ran into some trouble somewhere in PA...so we got a replacement box and now we're back on track. The box that arrived in my mailbox on Thursday was sent from Amy in New Jersey. Amy, you did great! I loved all the goodies that you sent. The angel arrived totally safe! As soon as I got the box (and took my photos) I sat down and cast on for my dish cloth. Well, that was right after I ate some of the chocolate! yum. I even used the stitch markers that Amy made and began knitting away. My mail arrives late afternoon, so it wasn't long before I had to stop and get dinner going. Since it was Thursday, the girls had basketball...so after they were on their way, I sat down to seriously knit. A little while later, I took a break to tuck my little guy in bed. As I was pulling up his covers, the thought crossed my mind that perhaps I shouldn't have left the dishcloth and my knitting supplies lying on the couch where Molly, our dog, could have gotten to them. Well, we read stories and said bedtime prayers and when I came back out to the couch to finish, Molly was looking rather suspicious. I immediately checked the couch and breathed a sigh of relief when I realized she hadn't chewed my near completion, dish cloth...whew. But I found evidence that she had been looking to munch. She totally destroyed the pencil I was using to mark off the repeats in my pattern. Naughty girl!
I was so glad she decided wood was more exciting to chew on than cotton. (She would have been sent to her crate for sure if she'd have chewed my knitting) Thankfully though, Lucy, the dishcloth was spared and it's on it's way to you! Keep your eyes peeled for the mailman. We will finish. Go Rag Tag Racers!