How I Relax

One of the things Mike and I love to do to chill out is that I will work on crafts while I watch him play video games. I love games, but I'm not nearly as good at them as him. He is THE video game nerd. He and his friend will get together for video game marathons, and he's the one they pass the controller to if there are areas no one can get through. It's pretty amazing to watch sometimes, and it's nice to live vicariously through him. I have to admit, I also do a little "backseat gaming" from time to time, yelling at him when he goes the wrong way...

One of the advantages of borrowing his parents home for part of our vacation was their huge television. It's ginormous, really. We had purchased two games to bring with us on our vacation - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and Kirby's Epic Yarn. This game is amazing "Gabe" from Penny Arcade commented in a post that "If you have a Wii this is a must own game. It might even be reason enough to get a Wii if you don’t already have one", and I am in full agreement.

As either a gamer or a crafter, you would pretty much have to have been living under a rock to have not heard of this game, but here's the idea: Kirby has been turned into yarn and is making his way through a world of fabric, yarn, string, buttons and beads with his sidekick Prince Fluff to stitch Patchland back together. It is amazing!

The best part for us is that it is a two-player cooperative game. I am extremely competitive when I play games, and I think Mike gets tired of me trying so seriously to beat him at everything. The cooperation in this game is really fun, too. It's much better than in the new 4 player Super Mario Brothers, where you just end up getting in each other's way. Some have even nick-named it the "divorce game"...

In kirby, the enemies are fun, the items you collect are really funny, the graphics are total eye candy for any crafter, and even some of the music is really good. I loved it and recommend it for anyone out there.

The new Castlevania, Mike seems to like, but he's always been a fan of the series. I have a few issues with the graphics in some places, but it's otherwise entertaining to watch. I at least got a lot of crafting done. I finished a cowl I had been working on for a while with some amazing blue alpaca/silk blend yarn that was a Christmas present last year.

I also finished my first ever granny squares for a patchwork blanket swap. I love how much the textures change just by adding an extra row of each colour in the square!

We go out and enjoyed the temperate rain forests during one of the brief periods of sunshine we get this time of year. The paths were overgrown and beautiful, and there were mushrooms everywhere! I leave you with a couple of photos; I love the wet coast!