I'm here! A post by guest-blogger Morgen

Greetings all!

Just a quick post to check in and let everyone know what I'll be doing this time around. 

When Melissa first floated the idea for a Niebling-Along I jumped at the chance.  How could I not?  A menu of patterns to choose from that rivals the Sears Christmas Catalog from when I was a kid, (I imagine now they "have an app for that" that my kid can get on his smartphone.) and the promise of a challenge.  A big challenge.  Just to add a little spice and kick it up a notch we'd be starting as everyone is headed into the holiday season.  I wanted a seat on THAT train of crazy.  Count me in!

I currently have 4 dogs.  (One summer I had 9!)  They are little dogs and they are better barometers of emotional energy in the house than anything else of which I could possibly think.  If I sigh in just the right way they are off my lap and out of the room like firecrackers.  They know when a storm is brewing.  (True fact and most times I am aware of it enough to take a step back and readjust accordingly.)  Suffice it to say they were wary around me for a couple of days as I sighed my way through the entire Niebling library.  I made lists.  I hemmed and hawed and assured myself that whatever patterns I loved and that I didn't choose I could always do in the future.  (Please don't let these be like potato chips where you can't stop at just one!)

One pattern I kept coming back to and it is the pattern I chose.  It is called Jesien ("Autumn"...a nice counterpoint to Melissa's "Spring")   But the pattern itself posed a bit of a problem for me.  What attracted me so much was the sheen that seemed to reflect off the piece which told me I needed to use a yarn with plenty of silk.  A yarn that was spun in such a way as to really bring out that sheen in the solid portions of the work. First I had to figure out what kind of yarn, then I could think about color.

I happened to stop into Serial Knitters in Kirkland and Debi, enabler that she is, said "Hey Morgen ahve you seen the knew Sweet Georgia we got it?  It's in the basket right up front, sock in the top, lace in the bottom.  She's mean.

I went to look and saw a couple of skeins of Merino Silk Lace in a gorgeous color called Tumbled Stone.  It was one of those rare colors that defies description.  If I had to call it something I guess it would be a beige of sorts, but in the right light it has a purplish sometimes pink cast to it.  It certainly wasn't what I had expected to choose, but it had the sheen.  Right there in the skein it had the sheen.  I bought all 4 skeins that Debi had.  That gives me about 3000 yards to work with.  I don't think I'll need anywhere near that much but better safe than sorry.

NOW my dilemma is what size needle to choose.    Again for me it is all abou the sheen and that will be conveyed in the solid portions of the leaves which I think will need to be knit at a slightly tighter gauge.  I'm thinking of a 3 or 4.  I don't know.

But I will have a few days to figure it out yet.  Wednesday I head out for the Fort Worden Retreat, so I am not officially casting on until after I get back, probably next Monday.  I took the picture of the yarn and printed out the pattern yesterday, our official start day.  Blog post today, and my plan is to spend one hour every day working on the Niebling in some capacity or other, gauge swatching, color coding the chart, winding up the yarn and finally casting on.  One hour per day committment until it's done (at which point I will likely be committed.)

What does it say about my life when I am looking forward to the one hour each day of a NIEBLING to provide balance and calm???  Ha!

I am really looking forward to this!  I am so glad to see everyone on board and am especially thrilled to spot on Ravelry that Kelly has already started and is also doing Jesien!  I'll have someone to bounce ideas off of if I get stuck!  (Plus she lives in my old stomping grounds where I grew up! ~~~~Waving to Kelly!)

THIS is going to be fun!

Hugs to you all,

Morgen