First scribblings and stabbings

I always find a blank page intimidating but rather than letting it sit here and taunt me while I try to think of the most eloquent and brilliant thing to say, I'm just going to dive right in.
Welcome to my blog, my imaginary audience!
I'm a relatively new knitter (started last November while stuck at home with the flu) and completely new to blogging/public rambling. Hopefully, this blog will be a fun way to chronicle my newly found obsession hobby. In terms of knitterly progress, I have managed so far to turn out three and three quarters scarves, a pair of mittens, and almost a sweater (Klaralund). I'm sure I will be talking a great deal in the future about the last, my almost-sweater, as I venture into blocking and seaming land.
With all that said, I'm actually not going to talk about knitting in my first post. Oops! But some of it is fiber-related!
So, onto the stabbing, otherwise know as the new-to-me fiber craft I discovered tonight:
Needle Felting!
I went to a class at one of the LYS tonight and it was wonderfully fun. Lots of meditative and stress-relieving stabbing of a pile of roving with a needle and you turn this

into this

Cool or what? In addition to a fun two hours of stab-stab-stabbing away, we got to take home the needle, the foam block for the stabbing (the green oblong in the first picture) and lots of roving in pretty colors to stab (can you tell I am really excited about the actual technique of making the felt?). One of others attending the class brought adorable clothing shaped cookie cutters, one of which I used to make the sweater. The ornament/ball is just made from free-forming a pinch of roving into a sphere and decorating it with bits of roving in other colors. Love, love needle felting! Instant gratification, though, being the Type-A person that I am, I did end up spending a good part of the class time punching away at quarter inch spots on the ball, trying to make sure all the colored bits were evenly spaced and such. Sigh...

Now for the non-fiber related content...

Booking Through Thursday

Collecting Authors

Today's questions were suggested by Cate.


1. Are you currently collecting any authors? Why?
   I've been collecting Diana Wynn Jones' books for several years now since I came back across a book of hers that I loved when I first read it in junior high (Howl's Moving Castle). I'm always amazed at her writing and how well she creates a wonderfully fantastical world that doesn't take itself too seriously and still retains a wonderful sense of humor. Moreover, her characters are never one dimensional and the plots never veer towards the predictable and saccharine as some children's/young adult books tend to. I absolutely adore that genre of books, even though I am well beyond the age it is intended for, and I like her books the best of all.


2. Do you have all of their books? If not, why not?
   No, still picking them up here and there.


3. Did you buy all the books in the collection at the same time, or did you buy a book here, a book there?
   I've been buying them here and there. I enjoy just randomly coming across a book of hers that I don't yet own...almost like receiving an unexpected gift (yes, I'm that easily amused).


4. Have you read the whole collection? If not, why not?
   I think I have almost read every single one. Some of them I haven't gotten to because...hmm...I'm saving them for a rainy day?

So that's it for today. Actual knitting-related content tomorrow and pictures of my first sweater-to-be!
My apologies for the lack of links and buttons in the side bar...still figuring much of that out. If anyone reads this and know of how to modify the font/paragraph format without doing it to the entire post (I've tried highlighting the word to no avail), let me know!