Yesterday I commented that I had begun doing the outermost border of the quilt, as I continue to work around on the inner border. This does make things go slower, but at the advantage of having to move the thing around less (it's kind of a pain to undo the hoop, reposition the quilt, and then re-do the hoop, getting the quilt in there taut but not too taut).
It's kind of like the Orange Peel quilting design, only squashed into an oval to fit the narrower border:
I'm going to have to put this aside for the evening now; I still haven't redeveloped my "quilter's callus" and my fingertip is sore. (Most hardcore handquilters develop a callused area on the tip of the finger that is under the quilt - the "guiding" finger, that helps the needle move along. I have read of using a thimble on that finger (in addition to the one on the "pushing" finger, on the hand that's on top of the quilt, which you use to push the needle forward), but I find I lose a lot of sensitivity doing that and I can't make my stitches as small and even. So I put up with the soreness. Sometimes putting a medicated cream on the fingertips overnight helps. (Many quilters swear by "Bag Balm," which is actually sold to be put on cow udders. No fooling. I guess udders get sore and chafed...)
I'm pleased with how far I'm getting, though. I can see being done with this before the summer is out.
I also continued some on the Oscilliscope shawl.
This is not quite two full repeats of the pattern, plus the set-up rows. (There are six increasing repeats in all, then you do the repeats over again, but decreasing, to make it a triangle. One of the subtle things I like about knitting is the geometry of it.)
I'm not sure why it's called Oscilloscope; perhaps the person wanted to convey a sort of steampunkish sensibility. Or it could be that the original shawl was knit of a green yarn close to this color, and the person was put in mind of the green colored trace line that many oscilloscope screens used.
I'm a little disappointed that the slight shininess of the "Lustra" yarn doesn't show up in the photo, but the yarn "in person" is very pretty and makes for an interesting shawl. It also shows the individual stitches very nicely, which is a bonus. (Some yarns tend to obscure the stitches.)
***
On an unrelated topic, I was talking a few days ago about being an introvert and that some people don't seem to realize/understand that about me because I am happy speaking publicly, I'm not "shy" in the typical sense, and I am not agoraphobic. Well, one of the people I follow on Twitter posted this:
10 Myths about Introverts Very true. Especially the last one, about how introverts should "fix" themselves and become extroverts. I don't WANT to be an extrovert. I'm pretty happy with how I am and I got really tired in college of people wanting to "fix" me and make me more of a social butterfly.
Oh, also #3, about how introverts are sometimes perceived as "rude" because we don't always do the small-talk-stuff first. I do this. If I call someone on the phone, I will usually launch right away into the meaning for the call; I have to stop and remind myself that most people expect you to ask how they are, what the weather is like (if they are in a different region of the country), etc. I think that's why I got the (probably false) idea at one point that I was maybe slightly Asperger-y, because I'd call someone up on the phone and immediately present my question or problem or whatever and they'd be all, "Wait, wait, back up, aren't you going to ask how my kids are first?"
Of course, the engineers I know don't seem to have a problem with it.
Also, I find I need a "reason" to talk; it's hard for me to come up with "shoot the breeze" topics. But if someone asks me about my research, or my knitting, or what I think of some topic...I can be off and running. But sometimes it's hard for me to come up with topics on my own, I think part of it is that I believe a lot of people aren't interested in my interests or something.
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