I recently participated in an auction hosted by a Canadian alpaca farm – and in my eagerness to ensure I won ‘something’ I ended up winning -9- fiber auctions (each for an amazing price) and a little over 6 pounds of fleece. Oh. My. I am REALLY looking forward to this fiber. Alpaca is fantastic for those who suffer from wool allergies because there’s no lanolin in the fiber, and typically those who are allergic to wool have no reaction to alpaca.
The fiber also has a few other unique properties – each fiber strand is hollow, and it provides more warmth than wool. It does have a few downsides, like it has little elasticity, and doesn’t hold shape very well – but I’m hoping to knit a hat and mitten set for me and my husband, and maybe for friends / family depending. I have no doubt it will come in handy here in our Northern post. I’ve never spun 100% alpaca before, but I did knit a part of socks using alpaca, and I loved them (and learned not to put them in the wash, next time). Fingers crossed I don’t have too much of a wait!
Crowfall has been on my radar for years now, but because I had been burned in the past (Landmark, Greedfall) I opted NOT to back the game. I sort of wish I had, but that’s alright.
It has been MANY years since I delved into a new-to-me traditional MMO. There have been multiplayer games like ECO, sure, but my last new MMO I’m pretty sure was ArcheAge. Nothing else has grabbed me, and I’ve been rambling through older MMOs for 15+ years.
Anyway, the game is in beta, and thanks to a 20% discount (available only until August 23rd) I grabbed entry at a not-too-high price.
I created a guinea pig vessel (that’s what they call characters, you’re not an actual character so much as you are a deceased the Gods have picked to return in a vessel). This allows you the freedom and back story to play any race/class combo available, simply popping into another vessel. Classes are restricted by their race, and in the case of the guinea pig folks, there’s no females. I know this is a deterrent for a lot of players, but it doesn’t really bother me personally, so I created my Knight with gusto, and I love the little dude.
First quest in the pve section is very typical – kill 5 wolves. There you learn how combat works and follow breadcrumbs from quest to quest, learning of the world around you.
The game has a crafter driven economy, and is full pvp orientated despite the added pve section. That’s more niche market shenanigans that others may not enjoy but I decided to wing it anyhow. There is also full looting of your corpse, none of which I have any experience with because hey, pve section.
The crafting is simplistic to start out, and fairly intuitive. You harvest trees, rocks, animal pelts, ores, plants, take the goods to a craft station, craft stuff. You have failure rates and you can create better than normal goods or poor quality – the better the stuff you harvest, the more those chances change. You can also re-name your crafted gear, which was interesting to me.
I did not get into the housing zones (also pvp free, called Eternal Kingdoms) but that’s on my list of to-do. The game play and new player experience was pretty smooth, and general chat in the pve section at least was friendly and helpful.
Release date? None given yet, but it’s supposed to come out in 2020. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed myself, and we’ll see if the whole pvp aspect of it turns me away. I’m thinking that since it’s on a grand scale I may even enjoy myself, much like I did with Warhammer. We’ll see.
This game just couldn’t possibly get any prettier. Goodness I love the graphics! I’m working through the MSQ stuff that I left off at, still behind everyone else (it feels) but I’m confident I can get there. I’m taking my time and enjoying the story for once.
I still need to block the shawl, but it is now completed! I’m so happy with it, the size is lovely, the silk lace portion hangs wonderfully, and I had a lot of fun knitting it up (even if it did seem to take forever). Onward to the next project!
I’ve started my next knitting project! A pair of socks – these are called “Clark Socks” on Ravelry. They knit up beautifully, and I could not be more in love with the pattern.
stargrace 
