Fun with kool-aid!

So awhile ago, I decided to experiment with dyeing some yarn with kool-aid. I was intrigued by someone who said on the Ravelry kool-aid dyeing group that they had good luck in getting a gradiated effect in their dyeing by winding a ball of yarn into a centre-pull ball and then dyeing that. I tried it...and it wasn't so much gradiated as it was splotchy. (You can't really see that from the photo.)

So, I tried overdyeing it with another flavour (glacier ice berry).

Love the effect. And of course, knitting karma kicked in...and I ran out of yarn. So, I dyed some more...but of course, I forgot which blue I overdyed with, and which one I used originally. So, my toes don't match. Ungh. Oh well.

But the socks are warm and comfy. Love, love, LOVE this Henry's Attic stuff. Kona heavyweight rocks my world, and not just because it's superwash and knit up into a pair of socks in 4 days of knitting. It blooms beeeeautifully, and is uber squishy.

The cables are wonky, but I don't care. I'm planning on wearing these during labour...so I'm ok if they get a little scary.

My next experiment went much better - I wanted a red baby hat, as the rest of the new munchkin's "coming home" outfit is red and white. So, I grabbed some alpaca from Pacafiesta a few years back, and tossed it into the microwave with some tropical fruit punch kool-aid. Ewwww, the smell of cooking llama is unpleasant, to say the least. But it took very nicely.

And resulted in this:

Of course, upon finishing...I realised that I had cursed myself, as there was no way that a kid of Mr. Ninja's would have a head that small. *cringe* I grabbed one of Mr. Munchkin's mini soccer balls, and wet blocked the hat to within an inch of its life. Hopefully, it'll be big enough now.

In other news, we're all a little down right now. It was a weird day of ups and downs. Mr. Ninja's grandfather passed away rather suddenly this morning, so we're scrambling to get him and the boy down to Texas in time for the funeral. (I would go, but am not allowed to fly at this point in the pregnancy.) I will miss him dearly - he was one of my favourite in-laws and the sweetest man. We're thinking of using Jamie as a middle name for the baby (Grandpa's name was James)...I just hope that no one in the family objects to the idea, because I'd really love to remember Grandpa in that way. But we'll see, I suppose.

Also, I went for a "check-up" ultrasound at the hospital today. (I swear, I've been at the hospital so many times in the past month the receptionists at the prenatal desk already know my name...) Anyhoo. Turns out that we will be having...



















a baby girl! It's a total surprise for all of us - we were convinced that the baby was a boy, but nope - it's a very healthy little girl! I'm a little in shock...but delighted that I get to knit and sew up sweet little dresses and other girly things now. Eeee! I'll get a chance to use up all of the ribbons in the house! (I, uh ... have a closet dedicated to ribbons. But my Mum gave them to me, I swear!)

So, like I said. A weird day.