Wobbledogs

I have to thank Arislyn for this suggestion – today I picked up Wobbledogs from steam. It’s a quirky little game where you mix and match the genetics from various types of dogs, and they spawn eggs that you hatch into new dogs. They have a pretty short life span, and they.. explode.. into little mutant doggy pieces that you can er, order the other dogs to.. eat. Or you can just throw the pieces away. Sometimes the dogs have genetic mutations that require a bit of help because they can’t actually feed themselves. I had one who could only butt scoot around the floor instead of actually walking. You can pet them, praise them, and.. throw them.

If it wasn’t for the over the top cartoon nature of this game I might believe it’s more sinister than it comes across, especially since my kids were hanging around cooing over the animals – but it was a hilarious delight, and a good time waster. I do think the price is a bit over the top for this sort of game play, but if you pick it up on sale then it’s not too bad.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Down Goes Boss #1

The Combat Wombats managed to get together in the morning so that we were mostly all at the same place at the same time – to take down the very first big bad boss in Valheim. It was a giant elk, and we actually managed it without too much trouble aside from the one time that I was just casually sitting on the ground during combat because my kids needed something (I was subsequently smushed) and then that other time where immediately following the kill we were ambushed by the weird creatures that live in the dark woods. You know the glowing eyes I’m talking about. I think Arislyn, Scopique, and myself were the victims of that attack.

We had to kill the boss a number of times so that we each had a component to make a fancy new pickaxe, and now we can upgrade a few things. Like maybe our base, it still looks like we’ve put that together with toothpicks. I know Arkenor has been doing some exploration, I think he’s searching for the merchant that should be .. somewhere. I looted some coins, so I’m anxious to see what I can purchase.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Shawl Update – 30%

My goal for February is to knit 50% of Stillness – a shawl pattern I picked up on Ravelry. I planned it all out and assigned each week to approximately 10% of the shawl, and so far that is working out very well for me. Yesterday I reached 30% which is exactly where I should be. If I knit 3-4 rows each day, I’ll have no issues hitting 50%. There’s 262 stitches per row right now so it takes a bit of time to get through them all, but three rows a day is pretty reasonable. You can see the gradient starting to take shape, too. I expect the next drastic colour change should happen around 40%.

I’m also well into the lace work on this shawl which makes it difficult to photograph and I’m very eager to get it completed and blocked. It will probably take me at least another month to finish, but I’m not feeling daunted by the work at least.

Valheim? Valheim!

This game came out of no where – and I’m loving it so far. Valheim is an exploration / survival game, but the theme is viking culture. You can play single player or co-op with up to 10 friends. The Combat Wombats have a server set up and we’ve been working towards getting geared to defeat the first boss so we can unlock the next tier of items. We have a small base that we’ve been trying to set up. Right now there’s a lovely camp fire for roasting meat, some beds (not too close to that fire now) and a bit away I’ve set up some bees.

The game has a lot to do and there are a lot of skills to work on if you want. I haven’t played for that long (yet) but I expect I’ll explore it fully over the next few weeks. It’s also early access right now, so I expect some great things for the future. It also is up to over 30,000 reviews at Overwhelmingly Positive – not bad, for a game that just released February 2nd.

Bring on the adventures!

TAAT Sock Club Socks..

One of my goals for 2021 was to learn how to knit socks two at a time. There’s a few reasons for this, but for me personally it’s because Second Sock Syndrome is a real thing. My husband asked me if knitting two socks at the same time would be any faster than knitting one – and the truth is, no. It’s not faster. In fact it might even be slower because of all the adjusting I have to do. That doesn’t mean that TAAT socks don’t benefit me though. See, when I complete a project, it gives me an adrenaline rush. I feel good. I feel happy. The problem is in my case that’s typically only ONE sock, and I still have an entire other sock to knit. My mind, doesn’t want to. It wants to bask in the euphoric feeling I got when I finished the first one. So I procrastinate starting that second sock. Sometimes I even wait a few months before casting the second one on. The one sock I’ve completed is left lonely wondering if they’ll ever have a partner. One sock I knit doesn’t even have a partner. Casting on two socks at the same time means it’s one project even though it’s two items. Until one is done, none is done, and when one is done they will both be done. A mental game against myself.

So no, knitting TAAT is not really faster – except that it is. It’s also a great way to keep even tension and to remember the pattern and all that good stuff. I’m knitting my socks using The Blue Brick’s sock club yarn which is starting to grow on me. It’s a gradient, so we’ll see how it goes once the colours start changing. I don’t have a pattern and I’m just winging it. I cast on 32 stitches using Judy’s Magic Loop (16 per ‘side’) and then increased every 2nd row until I reached 72. I’m using a 4 row repeat pattern for the sock itself, the bottom is just plain knit. I am thinking I’ll do a fish lip heel, but we’ll see when I get there. If it all works out, I’ll post the pattern up later.