Initial feelings? ¬†Pretty cool. ¬†I’ve been reading online reviews in the forum based on a pre-release pirated copy that has been making its way around via torrents and most were not very positive. ¬†It is different than Sims 2, but that should go without saying. ¬†If they don’t make it different, then why would they go for a major release. ¬†They kept alot of elements the same, tweaked others, removed some and added new. ¬†All in all, as a software developer myself, that’s pretty much how you do it. ¬†Some aspects of the game (sleeping, cooking, etc) take longer and offer up more knitting time! ¬†Others take no time at all, ie moving from the home lot to anywhere else on the map. ¬†I managed to lose a couple of hours of night time to it last night.

And as I mentioned before, it offers up primo knitting time. ¬†Between the train home, evening play, and the train/ferry in, here’s that mystery project:

Cookie ¬†went way out on the limb and guessed: ¬†socks! ¬†She’s right. ¬†But they are not just any socks, but Sox socks. ¬†Say that 10 times fast ¬†When done, they should look like this:

Awww.  My love of the Sox knows no bounds  I know, not exact, especially on the toe.  Whatev.

Craft on!

Last night, as I hoped, I finished the Latte socks on the train home. ¬†I bound off the final stitch one stop before mine. ¬† So while the sock knitting is done, I wasn’t able to weave in the ends. ¬†I’ll do that tonight at home. ¬†But this meant I needed another purse/train/Sims project to keep me entertained. ¬†I broke out the ball winder and swift. ¬†This is a peek into my purse this morning on the train. ¬†Any guesses?

Beyond that, I’m very excited for the release of Sims 3! ¬†Look what I installed on my iPhone as soon as I got to the office:

Note I figured out that iPhones have screen capture built into them. ¬†How sweet is that? ¬†Anyway, while I can’t play because I really do have work to do, I did a quickie start:

Sweet. ¬†I’m now awaiting the phone call from the GameStop across the street that my copy of the PC/Mac game is awaiting my arrival. ¬†

I can’t tell you how happy I am that they are releasing both versions at the same time. ¬†With prior versions of the Sims, the Mac port was 6-12 months behind the PC release. ¬†Some expansion packs like Free Time and Apartment Life were never ported at all. ¬†Now? ¬†Both versions are in the same box. ¬†Double sweet. ¬†

Craft on!

Sooo… I spent last evening in the company of my Van Eaton wheel again while watching the Sox lose once more to the Twins. ¬†Love that baseball on the computer thing. ¬†

As I’m finishing up the second huge bobbin from this one ball of roving that I *thought* was all of 8oz, I noticed there was a considerable amount left. ¬†I broke out the scale and weighed what was left: ¬†almost 4oz! ¬†I pulled the other two bumps out of the closet and got a rough weight on them: ¬†14.5oz. ¬†I guess I have way more of this fiber than I thought ¬†I know, I’m a dork. ¬†And yes, those two bobbins are different woods, you’re not seeing things.

I’ve made progress on the newest pair of Sims Socks.¬†

I took this picture on the ferry this morning. ¬†I can honestly call them Sims Socks as I’ve returned to playing the game during my commute. ¬†

It has been a while since the last Sims post and I know ya’ll miss those! ¬†I decided to give the Adama family a little rest and started a new challenge. ¬†Reading the Sims group on Ravelry, I tripped on the ISBI Challenge. ¬†Sounded like fun so I decided to give it a go. ¬†Also gave me a chance to create a new dude using some models I downloaded. ¬†Meet my first torch holder: ¬†Karl Agathon. ¬†He’s a family sim with the aspiration to hit his anniversary. ¬†A pretty decent goal to reach.

I managed to get him hooked up with someone he met on a community lot:  Caryl Kimbell.  They fell in love and got married:

Shortly after saying their vows, Karl ran off to the bathroom.

Sigh.  Shortly after Caryl moved in, I had Karl head outside to work on a logic point with the telescope.  He was abducted by aliens.  A first for me.  So before I could get Karl to knock up Caryl, he was.

I love his maternity wear. ¬†Here he is going into labor in the disgusting bathroom. ¬†He’s the main cleaner in the house and since he was so tired, being preggers and all, the housework naturally suffered.

He’s a good dad to baby Hera. ¬†I had to make him quit his job shortly after she was born because the nanny’s are completely useless and without the ability to control the Mrs, Hera was left to lie around unfed and unchanged and exhausted. ¬†Poor little one.¬†

She did survive her infancy and grew into a spectacularly ugly toddler:

Karl had a job in the medical career and as you can see, he’s in work garb, not having quit yet. ¬†After he quit, I had him concentrate on keeping the little one alive and educating her in the things little ones need to learn. ¬†She made it to childhood:

She’s not a particularly cute kid but not as UGLY as she was as a toddler. ¬†I wonder how many generations it will take to breed out that green skin though. ¬† I always loved Caryl’s outfit. ¬†The t-shirt goes so very well with the hair doodad.

One thing I’ve discovered with this challenge is that sims, when left to their own devices, are pretty dopey. ¬†Caryl has a love of the piano and will sit and play until she’s starving and exhausted. ¬†She’s a knowledge sim and has maxed out her creativity by playing. ¬†

I find her sleeping in her food a lot, as well as passed out on the floor.  Sigh.  I had to put a stereo in the kitchen so I could have Karl wake her up for work.  Someone has to bring in the bread!

Hera is now a teen:

Caryl is an elder and Karl is a day away from being an elder. ¬†Woot, which also means in a day he’ll throw an anniversary party and hit his LTA and perma platinum. ¬†Hera is close to that magical spot where she’s on the verge of adulthood and I’ll take her of to college and give her the torch. ¬†I’ll miss my hunky Karl though

The challenge has provided additional knitting time as when Karl is asleep or at work (when he did work) I didn’t have to futz with anyone else. ¬†I could sit and knit while watching the others. ¬†It has been slightly frustrating to sit on my hands so to speak but that’s part of the challenge ¬†So far we’ve only had one social bunny visit:

and one hit desperation:

And on that note, I’ll get back to work

Craft on!

So…

Last we checked in on the Adama Family, Belanna had just given birth to twins, Caprica and Cavil.

This is baby Caprica:

And here’s her twin, Cavil:

There’s definitely a family resemblance ¬†Honestly, I couldn’t tell one from the other without hovering over the tiny thing with the arrow to see the name label the popped up. ¬†Fortunately, the infant stage is a short one (made shorter by a mod I installed that shortened it to one day!) and they quickly grew into toddlers.

Here’s the pair of toddlers amusing themselves with toys on the floor while their mother and grandfather have a pillow fight. ¬†Their grandmother and uncle where also having their own pillow fight at the same time. ¬†Good thing no one stepped on the kids and they both got skill points while they amused themselves. ¬†Yes, Cavil is dressed a bit formally:

His sister was as oddly dressed wearing some sort of animal suit with covered feet, paw prints and a tail. I never did get a good screenshot of that outfit.  The game is weird.

They quickly (again quicker cause of the mod) became children:

Cavil finally got some hair, even though the game decided his sister should wear green pj’s while he got a set of pink ones.

It was at this point, when I could now control 6 people that I decided that the house had gotten a little full.  Not to mention that two of those people were annoying elders.  First, I made Benjamin find his own place and git.  This still left two old people, one more than I really want to deal with.  Christy had made platinum aspiration and was actually helpful with the kids.  Not so much with Abe.  Best he could do when the twins were babies was complain about a stinky diaper, stepping over the baby on the floor.  He was seriously cranky, complaining loudly when Caprica practiced the piano.  He clearly had to go  I sent him swimming:

And I wouldn’t let him out of the pool. ¬†I know, I’m evil. ¬†Eventually I had one less elder in the house:

The kids grew quickly (no mods this time, just regular speed) and when they became teens, I sent them off to college. ¬†They’re now at Sim State University in the same dorm.

One of the other mods I installed is the ACR – Autonomous Casual Relationship modifications. ¬†It lets you sit back and let sims be more “real”. ¬†They can initiate relationship activities on their own like they do with eating, sleeping and other bits. ¬†One of the other additions this mod allows is for WooHoo’ing in other locations beyond the bedroom, hottub and photobooths. ¬†For instance, couches are now viable spots and these siblings are making use:

Cavil and his squeeze Ivy:

Caprica and um (forgot his name):

Sims are somewhat shameless. ¬†That’s Cavil sitting in the armchair. ¬†And no, Caprica’s spine did not glow during, at least not that I could tell through all the pixelization

Not to fear, both couples are now engaged:

I’m moving both couples out of the dorm into a house so there should be less public¬†enthusiasm. ¬†

They’ve both completed their freshman year making A+ grades and the Dean’s List

Craft on!

I moved Benjamin off to college when Belanna became an adult and set about pairing her off. ¬†She isn’t the nicest of people and builds devil snowmen.

A penguin strolled by and struck up a conversation with the snowman..

She did strike up a relationship with Darren Dreamer.

Hearts flew and they went to the alter. ¬†Sorry the light is so cruddy. ¬†They had a nighttime wedding (both had early morning jobs and I didn’t want to wait and I um forgot to put outside lights. ¬†Sue me.

The folks like him too.  Here they are toasting the newlyweds.  

I swear, I had nothing to do with Abe’s pink tuxedo. ¬†The game takes care of generating outfits and sometimes you get a winner, and others? ¬†a pink tuxedo ¬†Anyway, I moved the newlyweds to the bedroom where they succeeded with the Try For Baby. ¬†Yay! ¬†The C generation was underway. ¬†

Well shortly after the household went to sleep, I saw Belanna get up and head to the kitchen. ¬†She was super hungry but I didn’t think it was that big a deal. ¬†Until she fell to the floor in front of the stove and the grim reaper showed up!

I couldn’t get any of her sleeping family members up and into the kitchen fast enough to plead for her soul. ¬†Sigh. ¬†Bela was gone. ¬†Good thing I had the spare heir. ¬†

I popped over to the university, forced Ben to drop out (I don’t really like playing them through school) and after forcing the widower to move out, brought him home to fulfill the heir duties. ¬†Much to my surprise, one of the wants he rolled was to resurrect Belanna! ¬†I had no clue you could do that. ¬†Thanks to Google, I figured out how and managed to do just that.

Bela is back! ¬†Oddly enough, she came back with no memory of Darren at all. ¬†When I saw him missing from her family tree, I figured the pregnancy was a non-happening too. ¬†Much to my surprise, 10 minutes after she came back she ran off to the bathroom with morning sickness! ¬†She came back pregnant! ¬†YAY. ¬†I can’t say as I’m upset that Darren is out of the picture. ¬†He was 15 days away from being an elder. ¬†

Three sim days later, she had boy/girl twins:  Caprica and Cavil.

The Bela’s family tree shows just her producing them. ¬†I like that. ¬†I can totally relate ¬†If you go into the babies’ trees, Darren is there as the father. ¬† I’m glad that if one thing didn’t happen that it was the marriage and not the babies

Playing the sims, when you’re not dealing with elders, babies and/or pregnant women is super knitting gaming. ¬†There’s alot of sitting around and waiting for things to happen. ¬†Especially when the household works or they are all sleeping, even though the game goes into fast forward mode, there’s still waiting time. ¬†Presenting my Sims sock.

Just a plain-jane stockinette sock in Colinette Jitterbug.  US1 over 52st makes them fast socks.  

Craft on!

That’s not to say I haven’t been knitting! ¬†There’s still that commute to keep busy during. ¬†This week’s project has been that Tulip Cardigan. ¬†However, I’m not doing it in the Dream in Color, but in the Sublime that I started the Lily Cardi in. ¬†I dislike that pattern intensely and just couldn’t force my way through it. ¬†I did the math, including solving for X as to where to remove the sleeve stitches to waste, and am quite happy with how it is going.

I’m doing the same color progression as the original pattern, just not the variation in the number of rows per stripe. ¬†While I want a 12-18 month sweater, I had to make the 4yo size in order to make up for the finer yarn. ¬†I’m almost to the bottom hem. ¬†I’m going to make a second one in the other color sequence for the younger of the nieces. ¬†I also matched up the colors in this one with Cascade 220 colors to make this sweater for Kat.

Even though I haven’t finish the February socks, maybe because they take too much attention due to the splittiness of the Mini Mochi, I pulled yarn for the March Pseudo-Sock-Club. ¬†Up next is this yummy Claudia Handpaint. ¬†I’m torn between a plain arsed sock for working on while playing the Sims or something else. ¬†It is the Strawberry Latte colorway.

I’m close to getting the “B” generation of my Sims family ready to produce a “C” generation. ¬†On the left is the older kid who was subjected to the odd method of carrying by her folks. ¬†She’s a cute kid. ¬†So is her younger brother, Benjamin, on the right. ¬†

They’re a few “days” apart and wind up spending a couple of days at the same age level. ¬†You can see the family resemblance here. ¬†They both look like their father, Abe. ¬†He’s the one I created. ¬†He got to choose his mate and from there on, genetics will take over. ¬† As you can see, red is the dominant haircolor

Belana is now a teen.  Cute thing, excellent student.  

Here’s Benjamin’s birthday as he ended his childhood and became a teen. ¬†The family gathered around and celebrated. ¬†Shortly after, he sproinged into being a seriously cute teen. ¬†His sister brought home a friend from school yesterday that he has the hearts for. ¬†He’s the backup heir, I need Bela to pair off ¬†Having just installed University, I think I’ll send him off to college just in case she falls apart.

Dad has the twins off at the park, enjoying the more seasonable weather. ¬†I’m going to take advantage of the quiet to catch up on my DVRed Ryan’s Hope and just maybe finish the button band on Mr. Not-So-Greenjeans!

Craft on!

Did I rest when I got home?  No way.  There was a package waiting for me!  Fedex Saturday delivery is a wonderful thing

Back in Business

My new MacBook is here! ¬†Any surprise that the first thing I installed on it was The Sims? ¬†You can see my alphabet dynasty loading here. ¬†Yes, they are the Adama family That’s Abe and Christy Adama, holding little Belanna. ¬†

Abe and Christy have some questionable parenting skills for Sims with Family Aspirations!

Dad of the Year?

Christy isn’t much better at this then her husband:

Very Flexible

Contrary to the hard work by her parents, little Belanna managed to survive her infancy and become a cute little toddler. ¬†I don’t think they’re challenged. ¬†

Walking to Mama

She’s got her dad’s hair color. ¬†And yes, mom is just about ready to burst with #2 kid. ¬†Actually within moments of snapping this, she went into labor and little Benjamin was born. ¬†Oh yes, the new MacBook (the Valkyrie) plays Sims very nicely. ¬†The NVidia graphics is a serious upgrade from the intel 950.

There’s probably a glitch in the software from one of the add-in objects that I downloaded. ¬†I even downloaded this house! ¬†I hate furnishing them but found a cache of them online fully furnished

Beyond the new “no beverages near the laptop” rule, I got the Valkyrie a protective cover to keep that nice¬†aluminum¬†shell shiny and new. ¬†Amazingly, it matches the new iFrogz cover that I added to my iPhone.

Red Apples

As Cookie requested after my last post, here’s a picture of the button I bought for Mr. Not-s0-Greenjeans:

1" button

Hard to take a picture of a mother of pearl button.  I did use my DSLR and took this today in the sunlight.  Yay!  I think the blue is of the sweater is pretty well captured here too.

The twins and I spent a lovely couple of hours at Chuck E. Cheese with our favorite Bronx residents!  We met Nancy and her family at the restaurant where the kids played and the adults were able to sit and catch up.  

Pop-pop is giving the monkeys a bath now. I’m catching up on DVR’ed programs and enjoying the quiet time. ¬†Maybe I’ll play a little more Sims after they go to sleep. ¬†Probably should do some more knitting though. ¬†I have 7 more rows to go on the band so I think I’ll leave it home tomorrow. ¬†I don’t really want to schlep the whole thing for that. I might just do the maths necessary to rework the Tulip sweater for my niece in a lighter weight yarn. ¬† I’ll figure it out

Craft on!