Month: October 2024

Norwegian Christmas Stockings

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment
HJEM TIL JUL
Christmas Stocking 2021

I learned how to knit when I turned 18 years old and it didn’t really go that far because I just couldn’t get the hang of it, but I never gave up on it. Several years ago I started watching knitting YouTube tutorials and I found these guys named Arne and Carlos and they are in Norway. They had a video tutorial to make a Christmas stocking and at the time the stocking pattern was free on their website and I downloaded the image which is a graph and I watched the video instructions for the toe and the heel and how to do everything else. I loved the pattern so much and the next year I decided I wanted to make another stocking and they put them on their website for sale. I ended up buying the one that they had which is a 2019 stocking.

NISSE Christmas Stocking
TOMTE Christmas Stocking

That first stocking, their instructions for the toe were different and I don’t think that I was able to understand it. So for some reason I did that one and that one was clearly the wrong choice because it looks terrible LOL. I also used knitting needles that were too big and the stocking was humongous. A newborn baby could have probably fit inside there. The second stocking was the 2019 stocking and I made the correct toe on this one.

So I was thinking I wanted to make another stocking and I went to their website and they had a bunch more stockings, and so I bought the one that I posted the image of above and it only took me a couple of days to make. I had a little trouble with the heel because it was an afterthought heel and I apparently did not know about lifelines using floss and I completely messed up trying to put the knitting needles in there, but now I know for the next time.

I paid $7 for this pattern a few days ago and then I went to get some yarn and that was another $15. After I finished this stocking tonight, I went back to their website to see if I wanted any of their other patterns because I finished this one so fast. I thought I might as well make another one and they’re on sale for $2.80 right now. So I bought all of the rest of the patterns that they have except for the one that has pictures of cars on it. I now have 10 stocking patterns from them.

Their website is https://www.arnecarlos.com/home/. They have a YouTube channel @arnecarlos with lots of knitting tutorials.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that they have some really good patterns that you can buy and they’re really not that hard to make. And like I said, I made this stocking in like 2 or 3 days. I barely used any of the green and I still have enough yarn to make maybe two or three more stockings. I think this is a really good buy. I’m going to start making another stocking using the same colors since I still have so much yarn left over.

The Sims Life and Death Expansion Pack

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PlayStation 5, PS4Leave a comment
The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion Pack

I’ve been playing The Sims since the beginning when I was in my late 20’s. I’ve never actually allowed my Sims to die because I wanted to work hard on getting them at the top of their career and make millions of simoleons without using any cheats, and be able to afford a nice house big enough to be comfortable. I also didn’t want to have to start over every time with either the same character, or a new character.

I have every expansion for the original Sims game for Windows XP. I skipped over The Sims 2 because I was hooked on MMORPG games, but I did play The Sims 2 Pets on PSP. Then I bought The Sims 3 for PC and have quite a bit of expansions and other packs. I actually bought that just before The Sims 4 came out, so I didn’t buy The Sims 4 until it was available for the PS4. I have every expansion except for Lovestruck. I have every game pack and every stuff pack and I have maybe 6 or 7 kits.

I couldn’t play The Sims 4 on my PS4 for too long because I don’t know if it was because I had bought too many expansions and packs, but my PS4 was having trouble with overheating. That’s actually the reason I didn’t want it for my PC because I knew it would cause my computer to become slow and I also knew if I bought a new computer, I would forget to save everything and have to start all over again. I’m not having any trouble playing the game on my PS5, so I’ve been playing every day.

The concept of death was still not something I was wanting to go through, but I think I’m ready with this new expansion coming because of the whole rebirth feature. I will get to go on a soul journey and create a bucket list and have unfinished business and have powers as a ghost and finally be able to either move on, or be reborn.

My Sims have adopted a child, so I think what I would like to do is turn aging on and let their lives play out so the child can grow to be an adult and then have children of her own and then eventually have my adult Sims be reborn as her children or grandchildren, depending on when my Sims die and finish their soul journey. Then I can see my Sims grow up from a baby back to adult and then continue for generations.

If it’s taking too long to achieve certain goals, I can always turn aging off until I can successfully reach my goals. It’s sometimes difficult to get things done because the whole day lasts for 24 minutes, but actually less because I fast forward until they wake up.

PlayStation trophies for The Sims 4

Generations is a PlayStation trophy I never thought I would ever get because I was so stubborn about not wanting to give up my Sims family who are based on my life partner and myself. So now I can see how the generations will play out and hopefully eventually have all of the Sims PlayStation trophies. I look forward to the day when I can finally finish that. Maybe that’s my soul journey.

This is actually the first time I’m buying a new expansion pack when it first comes out. I’ve been buying all of the expansions, game and stuff packs only when they were on sale because I can’t really afford to pay hundreds of dollars for a game. But I’m really excited about this particular one, so I pre-ordered it for the PlayStation. This will be available on October 31st, so that’ll be a nice Halloween gift for myself.

Are you playing The Sims 4? Let me know if you are buying this new expansion pack and how you like the game.