EQ8

Well after watching the videos of  the new upgrades to EQ 8 I decided that for the reduced price of upgrade currently available, it was worth it.  There are several things that used to annoy me in EQ7 that have been changed in EQ8 to make them so much easier and timesaving to use.  So of course I had to play with it just a bit to see how all the new screens looked and check out some of the brand new blocks that have been added.

I snagged a few coffee and tea blocks from one of the libraries and quickly put them in a quilt layout.   It’s not a keeper design – there are things that would need to be changed – but it was fun to play with and I love all the stacked dishes…. perhaps because it reminds me of my own kitchen at the moment so I’m off to do some dishes (and/or load the dishwasher). 🙂

Many points

This morning I was looking at one of my blank walls thinking it needs a wall hanging on  it.  Yes there are probably various things already made that I could put up there but isn’t a new wall hanging always better?

So I was playing with a design I had started a while ago in EQ and trying to decide – do I need to update to the new EQ8 or not – still undecided on that and need to do a bit more research to decide if all the new bells and whistles are things I want or not and I’ve got a few days left before the early discounted pricing for the upgrade goes away.   Decisions, decisions.

Anyway, back to the design I was working on.  What a difference various color auditions, orientation of blocks, etc. can make.  I started with this design.   I like pointy points but you know that means paper piecing which I’m generally not fond of.  But you can’t beat it for accuracy and in some designs it’s fairly painless where you don’t have lots of different shapes you are covering.

I just picked some random colors to color this in to see how it would look with the blocks broken into zig zaggy columns.  I like it a lot due to all the movement in it and I like the colors.

But then, as I was twisting my head sideways  to look at it, I decided if it were to be a wall hanging on my living room wall, I would like it better sideways and colored it in more in a color combination I would like in my living room.  This version I absolutely love.

And one of my favorite EQ options when using a single block in a layout is the Symmetry button which with every click will turn all the blocks in the design through a random serious of  rotations and you can sometimes get some great new designs (and sometimes not). 🙂  Here’s six of the symmetry layouts – the coloring has not been moved in the blocks, the blocks have just been rotated various ways.

  

 

Slippers

There’s a basic simple slipper pattern on Ravelry called Recluse.  It’s knit in the round, toe up, so you a perfect fit (unless you are me and overcompensated and made the first one very clown-like long even for my big feet).  But I cast one on yesterday afternoon and finished it last night – decided it was too long so ripped it back to get rid of some of the length and then made the heel area again and bound off for a second time.  Knit with double stranded worsted, so they are cushy and thick and should wear well I think.  And not a single seam or need to kitchner – simple bind off and they are done.

And, of course, I think slippers are always best in wild colors!

It still looks sort of long in the photo but since it hugs your foot some of that length is eaten up when it stretches around the foot.    I may need to make several pair of these but for now I’ll concentrate on making the second one.