[SIMply jazz intro tunes]
Oh good, another stuff pack.
It’s The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff, stuff pack number 137 for The Sims 4.
Sigh.
This... sure is a pack of stuff.
And it’s another one of those that resulted from a series of community votes narrowing
down themes and items until we ended up with a stuff pack about knitting.
Not crocheting, that’d be just silly.
No, it’s a pack all about knitting, and that’s it!
And while I absolutely appreciate the alliterative Nifty Knitting title, I gotta say I was somewhat
caught off guard at how utterly narrow the focus is on this one.
Usually they add in some other extraneous related stuff but not really here!
Pretty much what you see is what you get.
The pack truly is dedicated to the craft of knitting, to such a degree that you can’t
even access most of the new clothing content
without grabbing a pair of needles and making them yourself.
That’s right, locked off content in Create A Sim, that’s a thing.
Beyond a handful of hairstyles, tops, and bottoms, the majority of new clothing items
aren’t available until your sim unlocks them via the new knitting skill.
Or cheats of course, but yeah whatever, the idea here is that sims have to craft their
own wardrobe piece by piece, otherwise there’s not much to choose from in terms of new clothing.
And this is something the new Lord/Lady of the Knits aspiration helps capitalize on,
with a set of creative goals that rewards sims for knitting niftily.
The way this works is much like the other creative skills already in-game, where you
buy an item and begin using it to start learning the skill over time.
With knitting, all sims have to do is purchase a yarn basket, place it in their inventory,
and then knit to their heart’s content.
Or until they grow so bored out of their minds
that they refuse to continue, whichever comes first.
As with other major skills, knitting comes with ten levels to achieve, either by hands-on
experience or by outside research, like reading skills books or getting taught by sims who’ve
already mastered the craft.
And each new level comes with new things to knit,
starting with simpler designs like beanies, socks, and plant holders,
on up to toys, decorations, sweaters, and full-sized rugs.
Bebehz are in on the party as well with the new knitted onesies,
and not even the mailbox is safe from yarnful encumbrance.
The philosophy is, if it’s got a shape to it, it can probably use more yarn.
As for what exactly you do with these knitted knickknacks once they’re complete,
that’s entirely up to you.
You can gift them on to other sims, donate them to charity, add clothing items to the
household wardrobe, dismantle or “frog” the item back into yarn, or sell them on the
new Sim-ified Etsy store, known as Plopsy.
Accessed using a phone or computer, Plopsy is a virtual storefront for sims to buy and
sell all kinds of craft projects, including but not limited to knitted designs.
Listing an item costs ten simoleons and remains on sale for up to four sim days.
Unfortunately, you can’t change the asking price,
it seems to be determined by the quality of the crafted item.
But still, it’s a handy way for sims to make some cash on the side, without relying
on the existing self-employed side hustles where sims take commissions and stuff.
Plopsy is completely separate from that.
It’s also a relatively quick method of buying up all the in-game craftables without playing
as a sim skilled enough to make them themselves.
So with enough time and money,
you can theoretically add all the new locked items to your household
through Plopsy alone.
Speaking of buying items, the pack doesn’t stray far from the knitted path when it comes
to Buy Mode either, with perhaps the smallest number of new items in a pack so far.
Yeah, this is about all you get in terms of new objects, at least until you start knitting
the rest or buy them on Plopsy.
First up are the two yarn baskets, which function exactly the same as one another and allow
sims to begin their knitting excursions.
Next are some decorative items for decorating decoratively,
they don’t do anything other than sit there.
Well, the ball of yarn can be batted around by cats
if you have the Cats & Dogs pack installed, but still.
Next are a couple of seating apparatus, with an armchair and a loveseat
suitable for swanky stitching sessions.
There’s also a workbench and a shelf
packed with decorative knitting things that sims can’t use.
Along with a themed hallway table and desk filled with yet more unusable knitting objects.
And a slew of hangable wall items, including a pegboard filled with,
you guessed it, non-interactive decorative doohickeys.
Plus a couple shelves, some hanging knitted plants and cross stitches, and a door laden
with fluffy knitted flowers.
Really, other than the yarn baskets, the most notable new additions are the rocking chairs,
of which there are four.
Or well, two, one with arms and one without, and each with a pillowed variant.
Basically making for one with slightly different things on it but nyeh.
They all basically look the same but whatever, they provide a spot for sims to rock back
and forth, either while knitting or simply to relax.
Perhaps while partaking in one of the new radio stations, like Focus, with its chilled,
laid-back ambiance, tailor-made for whiling away the hours softly stitching sweaters.
Or the Metal station, which is uh.
It’s metal.
Brings a new meaning to the term “rocking chair,” huh?
[metal-driven knitting session]
Maybe someone saw that 'slipknots' are a thing in knitting and got the wrong idea?
Heh, I certainly dig the juxtaposition here, but
apparently it’s not entirely outta nowhere either.
As it seems the Heavy Metal Knitting Championship is an actual thing,
or at least it was in Finland back in 2019.
Sounds like fun!
Or more fun than this dinky stuff pack at any rate.
And I mean, that’s it, I got nothing more to say.
That’s the whole pack.
For ten dollars, sims can knit things now.
And you get a set of practically identical rocking chairs
and a way to sell crafted objects online.
What an absolute non-starter of a stuff pack.
Not that any of them are particularly great, but this one is just...
I don’t get it, not for ten dollars anyway.
Yes I admit, there are some rather cute thingies that sims can make.
I especially like the knitted grim reaper,
and the little Yarny sculpture from the game Unravel.
The cursed sweater is a fun addition too I guess, simply cuz it looks ridiculous and
provides a slightly mischievous gift to pass along to other sims.
But wow, when it comes to superfluous Sims 4 DLC, this just about takes the top spot
in my opinion, and after seventeen stuff packs that’s really saying something.
I suppose if you’re like, super into knitting and feel like paying for the pleasure of seeing
a few new animations and items in your game, well, here it is.
But in my eyes, this is nothing more than another forgettable add-on to an increasingly
forgettable game that has far outstayed its welcome.
And in the grand scheme of things, packs like this do absolutely nothing for me.
[laid-back beats]
And if you found this review useful, or entertaining or something, then cool!
Perhaps you’d like to see some of my others, I’ve done a loooooot of Sims things.
And other stuff is showing up every week here on LGR.
And as always, thank you very much for watching!