Nifty Knitting Stuff is the second community voted Stuff Pack for The Sims 4 and was released this week. Its launch follows months of community votes, developer blogs, and frequent updates. As such, those who followed these posts were already aware of the majority of the pack’s contents, something which is mostly unique.
The first community voted Stuff Pack was Laundry Day Stuff, released back in January 2018. Back then, the basic process of voting was very similar but was promoted in a much more low key manner, meaning far less take up. This time voting was advertised through social channels, forums, and in the game itself, meaning a much larger portion of the community had their say. So, the question is, did Simmers make smart choices?
A Crafty Pack
The overall theme chosen was arts and crafts and the assets in this pack very much represent that. In terms of furniture, the designs are focused on what you need to make a crafting space. There’s a dresser, tall desk, and short two-piece desks that can be used separately or snapped together to make a larger workspace. You’ll also find two types of wall storage, a crafting cart, and some decorative items. All of these are highly detailed and contain craft-based items as part of the design. The pack also contains two styles of wool storage, one of which you’ll need to place on in your inventory to utilize the knitting skill.
In terms of plainer furniture, there is a chair, sofa, door, speaker, and of course the rocking chair. The rocking chair and knitting skill are the focus of the pack and this is evident. One thing that was an unexpected surprise was that the chair comes in four slight variants. The basic design remains the same but you can use a version with and without arms as well as with and without a cushion.
Creatable Create A Sim
There are some basic create a sim items in the pack, alongside those your sims can unlock with the knitting skill. You’ll find five hairstyles, although a couple are similar to existing styles, as well as a few basics for different ages. They include new jeans, that thankfully also come without the bedazzled option that reminds us of trying to recreate bad Pinterest ideas, as well as some basic tops and boots. There are also both toddler and child-sized dresses.
The rest of the options are locked behind the knitting skill, although you can override this using the cheat cas.unlockbytag SP17. This means that when you take a look at the pack’s contents on Origin you only see a small part of the picture, since many craftable items aren’t shown.
We Luv 2 Knit
The knitting skill is the pack’s main focus and there are a lot of extra items that it unlocks. To be able to knit, your sim will need a wool box or bag in their inventory and a place to sit. Sims cannot knit on slotted back chairs but can use rocking chairs, regular chairs, benches, sofas, and apparently also toilets and pool edges.
It takes a few sim hours to knit an item but the skill levels faster than expected. We found that it only takes one to two items to level up and each new level unlocks a new type of object.
To begin with, you’ll be able to create bear and tiger beanies in a variety of colors. After this, you’ll discover how to make three lengths of socks. Next up are mailbox cozies as well as both hanger and zigzag plant holders in three lengths. Level four gives you rugs, while level five brings sweaters. There are three types of sweaters; men’s, women’s, and children’s. This level also unlocks the Teach To Knit interaction.
The second half of the skill brings poufs at level six and decorations at level seven. The decorations include a knitted cactus, cactus with llama, penguin, and octopus. Level eight unlocks baby and toddler onesies in some adorable designs, and level nine adds sweater scarf combos for male and female sims.
The final level unlocks children’s toys that comprise teddy bears, lil’ grim, and Yarny from Unravelled. Top-level knitters will also be able to mentor others.
METAL And An Online Marketplace
The pack also contains a few unexpected extras. There is a knitting aspiration that rewards sims with the ability to craft a forbidden sweater, a Yarny decoration that has a little surprise, and the ability to override the sweater curse, another neat little addition. As well as this the pack also includes a new METAL station on the stereo that includes some witty interactions and a nice mood boost.
The other big draw of the pack is the Plopsy marketplace. This allows your sims to sell their creations in a new way. Items are listed by clicking in your inventory and selecting the option. Then you need to wait for a response. Once a buyer is found Sims will need to mail the item using their mailbox.
The process can take several sim days and isn’t a quick way to make money, but it is a realistic one - and you will earn significantly more than you do from selling directly from your inventory. Plopsy feels like a nice touch and also offers you the ability to purchase things from a list that refreshes each in-game hour. However, you cannot sell food items or anything made on the fabricator, which does limit its compatibility with Eco Lifestyle as an alternative way to sell anything except candles.
Overall, the pack contains a large amount of content but some may find the process of unlocking it all through gameplay very tedious. While items are easily unlocked, clothing requires your sim to unlock every single swatch individually by crafting it then clicking the item to add it to your wardrobe.
In terms of furniture, there are a large number of items but the majority are very niche as they are either decorative or craft-focused. This means that while the pack is full of content if it’s a good choice for you will depend very much on if you are looking for a new hobby and enough knitted items to fill a store.
The Sims 4: Nifty Knitting Stuff is out now on Pc, Mac, Xbox One, and Playstation 4. A preview copy of the pack was provided to TheGamer.
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