Important Notice for All Donors

(From my Discord notices)

Sunday I will be making up for what I felt was too short a streaming time. I had to quit early last Friday due to severe back pain, and only streamed for 14 hours out of the weekend. I feel I could have streamed longer. While we did great in raising 870 that day, I feel if I had made it even through Saturday, we could have blown that original $500 goal to the moon and beyond. My goals for Sunday are as such: Stream at least one minute longer than 14 hours, and bring the #StrengthInEveryStitch total donations to $1500

If we meet the $1500 mark, ALL DONORS, even from last Friday September 9, will be entered into a special raffle. The winner will get a special, custom, 14 inch (35.5 cm) tall character doll. As long as there are reference photos, I can make it. I would normally sell these between $80 and $100, as they have removable clothing and can take a minimum of a week of constant work with no breaks.

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This means, if you donated, and I have the ability to contact you (Tiltify didn't save contact info) I will put your name into an RNG app and draw a name at random. Currently there are 32 names in the "hat". Any new names will go into the "hat" this Sunday. Below are 2 examples of the type of doll this drawing will entitle the winner to:

The above dolls show the 2 main styles of doll body I have experience in. The top is a more adult proportioned piece, the bottom more cute. The top doll was made from an existing pattern, but I can easily customize it. The bottom only the body is from a pattern, every other piece is improvised. With the top doll, only the blazer and trench coat are removable. In the bottom, all articles of clothing can be removed.

By character doll, I mean if it's a character with a photo reference of some kind, I can try to make it. Even OC's.

Again, this drawing is open to ALL DONORS, regardless of when they donated during this campaign, provided I have a way to contact you. This raffle is my way of saying thank you to everyone's generosity.

Let's push for $1500 this Sunday, and pick a lucky winner from the pool!

Donation Goal Reached, Time Goal a Flop

Thanks to everyone, we raised $870 Friday September 9. Unfortunately, I had to end the stream at 12:30 am September 10 due to severe back pain. There are still giveaway items left and I am unsatisfied with the amount of time I spent online.

First I want to thank everyone who helped out with the stream Friday. All the mods, the creators of items, and the visitors. We not only reached the $500 goal, we passed it! And remember I promised to shave my head?

Finding out we reached the goal... after some derping.

The head shaving itself.

The aftermath.

Now, before the stream started, I was spending my days walking without my cane and carrying heavy things without assistance, trying to do more than I was capable while getting supplies. Then I streamed, and when it became clear we were close to reaching goal, I brought out a very heavy mirror into the kitchen to set up a shaving station. RIP back! I bore through the pain but by midnight I dreaded any task involving reaching or bending over. 12:30 am I was done. Fourteen hours is my longest stream time, but I'm not satisfied. Like a Disney Princess, I want more!

I have set up another donation page, this time directly through AFSP.org. My goal is to raise $130, to bring the Strength In Every Stitch 2016 campaign to a total $1000. I will run this campaign all week from September 12 through September 18.

Sunday, September 18, I plan to stream until I can't stream anymore. I will give out the remaining giveaway prizes. It will be a marathon, no set schedule, no set projects. Just whatever I feel like working on, I will work on. Marathon crafting! There is no up time goal, other than to surpass 14 hours. There are still donation incentives:

ALL DONATIONS will get your name listed on the purple side of the donation pillow.
DONATIONS $25-$49 will allow you to choose a subject to add to the giant painting.
DONATIONS $50+ will qualify you for a free substitute doll like the ones used in Pokemon video games.

Note how the incentives have slightly changed. I will start the first stream in this additional campaign Monday afternoon. I highly recommend following me on Twitter @bruisedweasel, and watch for the #StrengthInEveryStitch hashtag. During the week I will be working on the Substitute Dolls the $80 tier donors will receive from the Tiltify campaign.

You will only be able to view these streams on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/bruisedweasel. You can donate at http://afsp.donordrive.com/campaign/sies16. Both Paypal and credit cards are accepted through this page.

Thank you again everyone for the success of the Tiltify portion of the campaign. Please spread around the new AFSP.org link, and let's try to reach $1,000 with this second round!

Today Is the Day!

In 3.5 hours (as of this writing) I will be going live for my first ever charity stream. I am nervous. But I'm going into execution mode (the good kind) and the nervousness is making way for productivity. Last minute morning prep involves brewing emergency coffee to keep in the fridge, heading to the grocery for extra herbal tea, and general gathering of extra supplies. I should probably whip up a relevant away image as well.

This has been about 2 months in the making. I'm excited! You can catch me live around 10 am Central Daylight time (4 pm UK time) at https://www.tiltify.com/events/strength-in-every-stitch for all the donation-y goodness, or https://www.twitch.tv/bruisedweasel if you prefer the standard Twitch format.

It's a short update as I have some prep work to do, but I hope to see you all in a bit.

o/

SO MUCH GIVEAWAY ITEMS! Also Giveaway Rules

The last of the giveaway items I'm shipping directly from here arrived yesterday, along with photos from a couple generous item donors shipping from their house.

First, let's go with the two generous people, the Whacklees: Whackly and Whacklette. These two lovely people are offering items of the sewing variety.

First up is Whacklette. Whacklette has a wide range of sewing capabilities, and is offering a lucky winner either a custom apron, a custom bag, or any other custom sewn item within her ability and comfort range. She will utilize a pattern if needed. Below are a few examples of her work:

Among the items above, there are a couple aprons, messenger bags, plushies, a pencil case, and a wallet.

Whacklette streams sewing when she is able. Definitely a person to follow, as her streaming schedule is a bit random and following will alert you to when she is live.

Whackly is Whacklette's husband, and loves trying many crafts. He draws, he has cross stitched, sewn, made patches, and upcycled many projects. His offerings for the stream giveaways include patches and a rather lovely colored pencil tree design (photo of the drawing is pending as of this writing). Below is an example of some of his patches:

He has experimented with more designs, and has contributed embroidered patches onto some of Whacklette's items, for instance the rhino and bear paw on the messenger bags. For the charity giveaway, Whackly is offering two lots of patches. Two people will win a choice of 6 small patches of the same design, or 2 large patches of differing designs. Whackly is limited by the size of his machine's hoop and software, but if he can work with you, and if his machine can handle it, he will embroider your patches.

Sadly I do not at this time have an image of Whackly's tree drawing. I will post one either in my final blog update before the stream, or on my twitter @bruisedweasel. An image will also be presented during the giveaway block it will be scheduled for.

Whackly streams at least once most days, with a special "Cookie Booking" stream Saturday evenings- an audio book in the public domain is read aloud while Whackly runs Cookie Clicker. It makes for an interesting stream and a great wind down for the week.

I have also received my order from PlayInTheMud, a Twitch potter. She is a highly skilled thrower of clay, and watching her work has mesmerized many a viewer. I had commissioned two mugs, and upon opening the box, found three mugs and four hanks of delicious yarn. I am keeping one skein of yarn. I'm a yarn harlot, and it looked shawl-erific.

Presented are three yarns for three lucky winners. The purple is superwash wool. 215 yards, marked worsted but appears a light worsted weight. The maroon is a boucle made of cotton. It is thin, but because of its texture, requires a size 4-6 needle or G-I hook (US sizes). This hank contains 1,250 yards/pound. I have not weighed it yet, but it looks a substantial yardage. Finally. there is a grey yarn by Anzula, fiber, yardage, and weight unknown. It is a soft yarn and seems rather scrumptious, and feels like it would make a handsome scarf.

As I mentioned, I purchased a couple mugs from PlayInTheMud. The purple and black mug, and the yellow and orange mug, are the ones I commissioned. They both say "Crafting keeps me sane <3" as I feel strongly a creative hobby is extremely beneficial to coping with mental illness. The middle mug was donated to the giveaway for those who do not craft but still enjoy their nerdy hobbies and obsessions. The left mug is glazed in the color combination she calls "Arizona Sunrise". It is a black base, and then dipped in pink. The pink turns a purple where it is thinner, and has pink puddles where the glaze is thicker. The middle mug is "Sweet Pea", a purple at the bottom, jade at the top, and a lovely blue in the middle where the glazes overlap. The right mug is nameless, but a yellow base and then dipped into orange for a bright sunny color. Perfect for the morning person.

 Each mug gets Kiba's stamp of approval, the resident studio cat and true star of the PlayInTheMud stream, and is marked with the studio stamp as well. She streams on a pretty regular schedule, and her studio has a shop here.

I also have a last minute custom contribution from NaughtyWotsits. She is offering a custom colored crocheted dinosaur, spikes optional.

NaughtyWotsits is a skilled crochet artist and I love her work. She has also volunteered her time to direct viewers to the charity page as I host her while I take a sleep break. She is also providing moral support.

And that just about wraps up all the giveaway loot for the stream. There are some rules to how the giveaways work:

Each block will have 4-5 items in it. Each person may win 1 prize per block, in two seperate blocks. This means you can win up to 2 prizes, but those prizes must be from 2 different giveaway times. If you win something at the $100 milestone, you cannot win another until the $200 milestone. This is to try to spread the winnings out as much as possible.

You do NOT need to follow to win this time around, but you do need to have accumulated an hour of visiting time total. You can check your viewing time with the !fleece command in chat. This command gives your visiting time and the amount of currency you have accumulated. The currency is not needed for the giveaway.

If you are watching via the Tiltify page and are not logged into Twitch.tv, your entry might not register.

Once you have won a prize, you will be asked to type in the chat so we know you are active, and then you will be directed to give your contact info to me, or to the person sending out the prize if it is not me.

Good luck to everyone hoping for a prize. Remember these giveaways are held at donation milestones, every $100, in order to keep the focus on the charity fundraiser and not on prizes.

Incentive Tiers Revisited

Last month I went through the incentive tiers for donation levels. Each tier was double the previous tier, and each level added on to the tier before it. I've been in thought as to how this works, and its ease of implementation.

First off there is a change to the $80 tier. My legs have decided to hurt again this weekend, and I can't walk far without assistance. I can't dance either without terrible pain. So the Caramell Dansen Dance is a bust. Practicing hasn't done much to help with the pain, and I cannot guarantee it would be gone by Friday.

To make up for it, I am offering a custom Substitute Doll as used in Pokemon. Below is an example:

I can make the body any color you like, and change up the accent color as well. They stand maybe 5 inches (12.7 cm) tall and are balanced to sit easily without assistance. If you wish to receive one for your $80, simply write in the message box on the donation page what you would like for the main body color and if you would like something other than white for the accent color. If yarn exists in your choice of colors, I can make it.

I also mentioned in a previous post the licorice being a bust and switching to bugs. This is still on. It won't be activated until the stream, however.

The tiers have been changed as such:

$10+ - You still get the name you donated under written on the donation pillow. All donations $10 and above receive this perk. This pillow will remain in my possession after the fund raising as a souvenir of my first charity stream. I wish to record when we reach the $500 goal, if we do meet it, as well as the final tally at the end of the stream, as well as the names of donors.

$20 - Donating $20 will give you the opportunity to make me eat bugs. I have a couple bags of edible dried bugs of the cricket and grub varieties. This is a food challenge. The bugs are unflavored, lightly salted, boiled and dried according to the package. I have not tried these before, and frankly, I don't look forward to it.

$40 - You may add to the mural at this level. I have a 24 x 36 inch (60 cm x 90 cm) canvas and a couple sets of acrylic paint. I will draw whatever you like onto the canvas after I see the donation and paint it to the best of my ability as time allows. Almost anything is open as subject matter. I only ask to refrain from anything sexual or extreme violence. No sex, blood, or gore.

$80+ - As stated above, you will get to custom order a Substitute Doll from me. These do take around a week to make, so patience in having the order filled is asked. They will be made after the charity stream when I am not sleep deprived, and shipped as soon as I can after completion. I will do my best to keep in touch with you once I begin your order.

I feel happy with these incentives. I feel I am better able to fulfill them all as promised, plus I get tot crochet something for those who donate more! And that is always a plus.

Schedule Changes, Early Donations, and More Giveaway Items!

First up, the donation page is published! You can watch the stream from there, donate, read info on perks and prizes, keep up on the schedule as it changes during stream, read chat.. Monitor everything! Or you can just donate from there and watch the upcoming stream from my channel on Twitch. The unavailable perks are turned off until the actual stream, but you can still get your donation name on the pillow and influence the mural. Just put any instructions for these in the message box provided.

This page was published early so those wishing to help the cause could contribute even if they couldn't attend the stream,

Next, giveaway item news! Some more items have been finished, and either sent to me or photos provided.

First are these Little Pillow Dudes created by GirlNovember. She streams knitting, though she has recently come to the dark side and tried her hand at crochet. She created these in purple and teal like the suicide prevention awareness ribbon. Each LPD has a small handmade pillow inside. They are soft and squishy, and happy little reminders someone out there loves you. While these are unscented, I imagine they would be lovely with lavender in the pillows, or another pleasant herb.

This chain mail bracelet is provided by ArmoredHearts. It is made of red, black, and silver anodized aluminum. It is a lightweight piece, and this particular weave is called "Vertabrae". It is made to fit up to an 8 inch (20 cm) wrist, but if needed she can make it longer. ArmoredHearts makes lovely jewelry on Twitch and I recommend visiting her Etsy shop.

The above item is being shipped from the artist's location, and so when a winner is chosen, their information will be sent to her.

LilBlueBoxox, affectionately referred to as LBB, has just about perfected the crocheted Jawa and Ewok amigurumi. She has offered to create a custom version of either one of these Star Wars classic residents, in the colors of the winner's choosing,  for the winner of this lot. LBB is a talented crochet artist who I have seen tackle some pretty amazing patterns, including a Unicorn Chomper from Plants Vs Zombies. LBB is extremely helpful in the Twitch Creative community, starting a fiber arts team (of which I am a member) and actively promoting other streamers who visit her channel, no matter what they stream. She also streams games on occasion, and straddles the line between gamer and crafter very nicely.

The above item is being shipped from the creator, since it will be created per the winner's instructions. The winner will be instructed to contact this artist to give creation preferences as well as mailing information.

Finally, schedule changes are being made.

I have gotten some advice from a Twitch streamer known for doing long streams. And so I have altered the schedule accordingly. Instead of two rest periods, there is now one. I will be hosting another streamer who will provide the donation link and direct viewers to the page. Incentives I am unable to honor due to being offline will be turned off, but the pillow and mural will remain active. I still have main activities written out, in approximately five hour long chunks. These large chunks will allow me to handle honoring donation incentives earned, giveaways, shenanigans, or just taking a break as needed to rest sore joints.

Five minutes before the end of each hour, I will take a 5 minute break for bathroom, food, drink, stretching, standing, etc. I will have a kitchen timer set to fifty-five minutes. it will also allow a brief intermission for the chat goers as well.

Around 8 am Central Daylight Time, I will go offline for a break. it will be a 6 hour break following a 22 hour stream block. The advice I was given said this would be a more effective rest period. The break will end around 2 pm Central Daylight Time. I will log back on to twitch and begin the second 22 hour block. I will leave the option open to push uptime if I don't feel dead tired, but that is the default limit.

The whole thing starts 10 am CDT Friday and ends 10 am CDT Sunday. You can view the schedule here: https://www.tiltify.com/events/strength-in-every-stitch, and share the link with anyone.

Another topic I will address: shaving my head at the $500 mark. I have waffled between DIY with clippers, or going to the salon and having it professionally done. The thing is, I want to record this and I have always preferred the option for people watching the stream to watch me shave my hair off. I have been at the Googles and I have talked to a few people who know a thing or two about head shaving. I have gone to Amazon, bought a WAHL hair clipper, and decided to just go all in. With the guards on the clippers, I'm not that worried about cutting myself. I might be a bit uncoordinated, though. But, I think it will be the best reward for proving to me how generous the community is. It will be messy. There just might be tears. But it will be worth it.

September 9 is fast approaching. One week from the writing of this blog post. I have butterflies in my stomach already, and I wonder if I can do this. It will certainly be a challenge, and a push outside my comfort zone. But the encouragement from the Twitch community has been a blessing, and keeps me going. I love you guys. <3

Personal Update and More Giveaway Item News

It's been a rocky few weeks. I became so preoccupied setting up this event, I wound up forgetting to take my medication for 2 weeks. That led to an unhappy reaction and dramatic mood swings. But I'm alright. I've been focusing on taking my pills and taking care of myself. The event planning had to go on the back burner for a bit though, just so I could refocus and recover. Then, when I tried to renew my prescriptions, I found the note my doctor sent my insurance allowing me to take name brand over generic pills expired, and there was some run around with that. Luckily it's been resolved. I just want this month over... until I realize this month ending means I need to have some things in place and ready to go. Only a few days of August left.

On the upside, I received the tea I ordered from DryadTea! It smells absolutely amazing and I wish I'd been able to order a sample for myself. I confess I've never had her teas, but she comes highly recommended by Twitch.tv tea lovers. She cares about her tea so much, she even tells you on the label the appropriate water temperature and steep time for the best flavor.

There are three varieties of sample sized tea, two in each flavor, and two tea infusers. These will be made into two sampler kits for the giveaway. The tea varieties are: 

• Awaken Tea: "A dark black tea blend, created to aide in waking up. Roasted Mate, a delicate blend of black tea and a touch of cinnamon all lend flavors to this tea. It is suggested to take this tea with milk and sweetener."
• Dischordia: "An Amazing blend of green teas, flavored with mint, basil, ginger, elder flowers, and more. Amazing hot or cold, perfect to calm the nerves or an upset stomach."
• Sweet Dreams Tea: "A very tasty blend of green rooibos, chamomile, valerian, rose hips, lemon balm, and lavender. All blended to promote relaxation and sleep." (Herbal and caffeine free)

Each sample bag holds 3 ounces (about 85 grams) of loose leaf tea, enough to make 3 servings per bag.

The infusers also have beautiful charms attached, so you can have a stylish mug waiting at the table. One is a genuine ammonite fossil. It is a dark brown base color, whole and unsplit with a hanger securely drilled into it. No worries about it falling off the chain or the hanger coming unglued. When the light hits this fossil just right, it has a gorgeous red flash. I confess I wanted this for myself. It's nerdy, shiny, cultured... shiny....

The second infuser has an adorable sleeping black fox crafted from glass. It is rather large and has good heft to it, no worries about the chain slipping into your mug for lack of weight. The design has a very nice liquid flow to it, and offers more of a suggestion of a fox. Perhaps more of a fox spirit. Perhaps using it to steep your tea will infuse luck as well as flavor.

Both sample kits will have the same teas, only the infusers will be different. You can check out DryadTea's Etsy shop, as well, if you don't want to wait for a chance to win a kit. She sells a huge variety of teas, beautiful infusers, trivets for your tea bags and infusers to rest on, and even some wood burned boxes. On Twitch.tv, she can be found streaming her pottery creations.