Child's Play Recap

Wow. What. A. Night. It started horribly, but completely turned around once I arrived at the auction with my date. I swear, we are cursed. For the second time in 6 weeks we were in a car accident together. This one was worse, but everyone still walked away shaken up and unharmed. Driving down I-5, traffic came to a very quick halt at the Mercer exchange. We stopped in time, the car behind us didn't. Neither did the car behind them. On the second impact we tapped the car in front of us but there was no major damage to the front end of Ryan's car. The back looks like hell from being hit twice, but compared to the two cars behind us we came out okay. SO. After the police, fire and medics arrived and everything sorted out, we were on our cautious way to a glamorous evening.

Champagne and hors d'oeuvres plus the silent auction was great. By the time we got there everything was out of my price range, but it was fantastic to see everything that had been donated. My shirts were in the silent auction, and I'm disappointed to say that they only went for $600. I met the winning bidder and chatted with him and his date. He was very excited to have won them, and at such a great deal. When I told him how much work went into the shirts and everyone who helped, he asked me what the material cost was. The PA organizers wrote $850 on the bid sheet, so he promised me he would make the check out for that amount! So that, combined with the extra $275 in donations, we raised $1125 for CP this year. I had hoped for much more, but still. We raised over a thousand dollars for the kids. *hugs* to all of you for your help and support!

The live auction was equally exciting and elegant. Steak dinner, local wines and market fresh salad, and a decadent german chocolate cake dessert. The bidding opened with one of Gabe's Limited Edition cels, and I got the first bid in! My hand shot up and Groove pointed me out. The bidding was slow at first, and for a short time I thought I might actually win the item at a fairly low price (I stopped at about $300), but more hands shot up once the amount got to that point. There were some amazing items, and I really hope I can attend with more expendable money next year. It seemed like everyone was a little more reluctant to throw down the cash this year.

The afterparty was equally amazingly fun. Ryan and I took charge of organizing the TapHouse Enforcer run. After the live auction ended we got in touch with the PA crew and Wil Wheaton and invited them along as well. The party exploded with so many people in attendance, Kurtz was there, everyone from PA and their +1's, a few auction winners including Pete from Brawndo/Sex Panther (always fun talking to him), some of the Harmonix guys, and a whole lot of people I didn't know. I rocked out with Wil on Rock Band (wow, TapHouse needs to buy new instruments), had a few drinks courtesy of whoever was buying, shot some pool, and generally had an amazing time. Really, the only dark point of the night was the car accident, and even that went smoothly considering the situation. Wonderful, wonderful night. Easily one of the greatest highlights of 2008. Thank you, Penny Arcade.





Photos courtesy Quicksnap

Gabe's shirt is complete!

AND it matches the Segway.



Technically Tycho's shirt is finished, but I feel like tweaking it and expanding the torso width a little. I'm going to do that now so it's ready for delivery tomorrow.

Let's Pretend This Is Friday...

Pictures! Tycho's shirt is finished and Gabe's is well on his way. I am particularly proud of how Gabe's shirt is turning out, with the sleeves and the inlay.

Surprise!

Better photo coming on Friday when I get someone to try it on at the House of Gamers, but this will do for now. I attached the sleeve on Monday, and finished the seam along the underarm last night. It is COMPLETE!

A Real Update

Back on track! I am currently wearing Tycho's shirt. It is still missing one sleeve, but it is looking damn fine. Last night I focused on the more oddly shaped pieces of Gabe's shirt, including the top of the front 1/4 and one of the sleeves. I hope that, with the help of friends, I can get some of the more rectangular shaped pieces put together. i.e. start on the back of gabe's shirt (all yellow!), finish Tycho's sleeve, and work on the orange chunk of Gabe's other sleeve. They are great pieces for beginners because there is no major concern with particular pattern quirks, expansions or contractions, seams, etc.

Without further ado, here is Gabe's shirt pieces.

Woppa Woppa Woppa

Pacman is finished! I have been running around today to get ready for the event tonight, and I think I am set. I have munchies, beverages, lots of extra pliers, lots of sitting space, all the maille is out and handy, and... somehow while I rearranged my furniture last night, I lost Pacman's power pellet. Oh noes! Luckily, I have lots of extra black and I can make another one. For now, I give you the completed inlay!



Gold colored rings should arrive on Wednesday. I can't wait!!

Maille Party! And Progress Report

I emailed back and forth some today with The Ring Lord and requested they change my order to gold colored rings instead of the custom order yellow. Thankfully, they did so. I was a little worried at first. ANYWAY. I should hopefully be getting the gold rings soon, which really look more like dull yellow.

And with that, I would like to organize the first CHAIN MAILLE PARTY! If you are a Seattle local and know me from the Penny Arcade community, and would like to learn how to do some basic chain maille and pitch in on this project, let me know! I will be having more than one mailling party, but I thought this would be a fun way to spend a Friday night.

What: Learn the 4-in-1 weave, eat some munchies, hang out and help on the project
When: Friday, Oct. 24th at 9pm
Where: My place!
Bring a snack or beverage to share if you want!

If you are interested, email me at Jules@knittedsteel.net - be sure to tell me your handle so I know who you are. Also, tell me if you have your own pliers or need to borrow some. I have a limited amount that I can lend out. If you really want, I can sell you a couple pair for future use. I cleaned out the supply at the nearby craft store. ;)

And now, huzzah! The progress report!
The torso is FINISHED. It just needs sleeves. (Guess what we'll be doing at the shindig next Friday eh?)

Another quick update

Ack! My parents and grandmother are coming for dinner. I've spent most of yesterday and today getting ready, and oh man dinner's going to be delicious. But you didn't check in to hear about my beef burgundy. Here is Tycho's shirt!



Next up is finishing the torso stripes, then moving on to the sleeves. Ohhh the sleeves are going to take forever.

Child's Play Update

I got a surprising amount of work done this past week, and I'm extremely happy with how this is looking. Short post today. Got a visitor that I wasn't expecting.

Child's Play - Work In Progress

I'll be honest. I made a lot more progress than I thought I would. Here are two small chunks of Tycho's shirt:



The first chunk is part of the neckline. The blue will extend down past the bottom of the arms, and meet up with the large light blue stripe. Sleeves will attach to the angled edges with 45 degree seams.



This second chunk shows off more of how the shirt will look in the end. The lowest blue stripe makes the bottom 'seam' of the shirt with the stripes running horizontally across the torso.

No promises on how often I'll update with this project, but I will take photos whenever I have something awesome to show off.

Chain Maille for Child's Play Begins!

I'll be updating on this project a LOT over the next couple of months. Today is September 22nd. The shirts must be done and delivered to the Penny Arcade office by December 1st. Maillers, keep your pliers at the ready!