Kool-Aid dyed yarn

The easiest way to dye some yarn is to use Kool-Aid. The upside is that you don't need a separate set of pots because Kool-Aid is food safe. The downside is that you are working with a limited set of very bright colors (to some dyers this is not an issue) So for my first dyeing attempt I decided to give Kool-Aid a try.

My spinning has yet to produce a quantity large enough to knit or crochet something with so I've been scouring the Boston area looking for yarn suitable for dyeing (known as "bare" yarn) and finally found Minds Eye Yarn, a gem of a store, over in Porter Sq. in Cambridge. This place is a yarn spinner and dyer delight! What a find. I purchased a couple 4oz. sock weight skeins of a Merino/tencel blend (added bonus - it's a superwash) along with some merino roving.

I thought finding bare yarn was going to be the hard part but it turned out that finding Kool-Aid was just as challenging! I needed to find the old-fashioned packets where you add the sugar. The local grocery stores in my suburb of Boston only carried the sweetened varieties of Kool-Aid and I didn't even try the multitudes of health food stores -- after all, if this stuff dyes yarn what are we doing drinking it?? I finally found a good selection in Natick at the Super Stop and Shop.

For my first dying attempt I was going for a gradation of a single color. I followed the technique used in this Gradated Dyeing Tutorial found at Knit Picks (they are an internet resource for bare yarn.)

My Notes:

This is just one of multiple ways to get gradated color. I had a great deal of difficulty managing the bulk of yarn at the top in the beginning dye phases. I ended up holding it with my hands instead of using the bar because I could not get the yarn to behave with clothespin clips alone.

I left the beginning sections in the dye bath too long so that once I got to the final section there was very little dye left to be absorbed. The counter to this is to add more dye each time you drop a section but I had mistakenly added ALL of my Kool-Aid packets in the beginning and I was now left guessing how long to leave each section in the dye bath before dropping in more. The result was that the last area to be dyed has a minimal amount of dye. Not what I was intending to achieve but this lesson was learned:

"Happy mistakes". The really nice thing about dyeing is that unless you have a muddy mess of color just about anything you do results in a "designer" dyed yarn!!! It differs entirely from knitting or crocheting where you can rip out your mistakes and redo. No-can-do with dying (well actually, you can over dye but that may be even riskier.) What really happens is you learn to be make good and be happy :)

I used 5 packets of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade

I did use vinegar. When dyeing with Kool-Aid some people do and some people don't. There is a lot of debate about this on the dye forums. I figured it couldn't hurt and would possibly help, so I added vinegar.

I used the following references for Kool-Aid dyeing:

Dyed in the Wool by Kristi Porter

Dyeing Protein Fibers with Kool-Aid: Basic How-to

Koolaid Dyeing - using the kids' drink to dye your yarn

Wool Works: dyeing fibers

Kool-Aid Dyeing Tutorial

My first project with my hand dyed yarn is a pair of socks. Details on the designing of these will come when I'm finished but I think I found a good stitch for this first batch and I'm getting a striping affect as well -- So far it's looking fine!