After reading the long thread on this subject on Craftster, I picked up one of every flavor of the unsweetened KoolAid packets at the neighborhood Safeway and got busy. Click here for the Knitty instructions I used. It was so fun, quick, and easy! And I’m very proud of the results.
First I soaked some superbulky wool yarn–recycled from a thrift store sweater–in hot water. After squeezing out as much water as I could (no wringing), arranged the hank in a pyrex baking pan lined with plastic wrap.
Then I used a turkey baster to alternate patches of Strawberry and Orange. One packet of each, each in six ounces of hot water. I used all of it and was worried I didn’t have enough. But, with a plastic bag over my hands–the dye really sticks to your skin!–I gently pressed on the hank to distribute the dye. Ah, the overpowering smell of concentrated KoolAid…
Then I <(edit) covered the pan with more plastic wrap and> popped it in the microwave for 2 minutes, and 2 minutes more. The water from the yarn ran clear, though the dye still stained my fingers.
Just to be sure that the dye would fix, I put a couple of spoons of vinegar in the rinsewater. Might have been voodoo–the acid in the KoolAid is supposed to be enough–but it didn’t hurt anything.
The hank took 3 days to dry! Too thick, I guess. But I really love the variegated dark pink/orange. Yum! Want to make a hat out of it. Next dye job: over-dye two balls of Lion Woolease. It’s only 30% wool but the wool part will still take dye.
R, Jacob made some but we can not find it anywhere
around the house, Op time to go buy more yarn lol
I Love yours, that is very pretty
That is really cool. I love how it turned out. Very pretty.
Nice dye job! Kool-Aid dyeing in disturbingly fun, and really easy to do. I do mine a different way, but I suppose whatever works is good enough.