In one of my kitchen cabinets I found a stash of unsweetened Kool-Aid packets and in my working yarn stash I found a couple of four skein bags of undyed worsted weight wool. Obviously, I had a dye project in mind, because I do not drink Kool-Aid and there were multiples of each flavor in flavors that I wouldn’t drink if I did – grape, orange, blue ice and some color changing flavors. All of these were unsweetened as well and I have no sugar in my house, because I like my coffee and tea unsweetened. This was definitely for a dyeing project.
The yarn however, I guess it was on sale because there were eight hanks waiting to be used in my working stash. I needed a refresher on how to dye yearn with Kool-Aid. I searched online and soaked the yarn, while I prepared the dye. This was something I had done before so I got out the squeeze bottles, poured in the flavors/colors that I wanted to use and then filled the bottles with vinegar. Many directions say to use vinegar and water. I just use vinegar and it works well.
Wild Cherry, Grape and Orange were chosen for my test this time. Initially, I wanted to have mostly red in the color scheme. There were only six packets of wild cherry and I wanted a more vibrant color, more colors were added to the experiment. I added a little of a packet of grape to the orange dye to make it darker. The color ended up looking more like a muted than very bright. A couple of months ago when I was in an office supply store, I purchased some large rubber bands, to purposely keep some natural sections on the yarn.
The yarn looks lovely and I was anxious to wind it up, though I am not sure what pattern I want to use for the hat and scarf. I dyed four hanks which is enough for a hat and scarf. Though, the next time I do this I would buy more or have more of the drink mix to have more concentrated color, as well as turn the work to make sure that the dye gets through to both sides. I’ve dyed before and know that it’s important to get enough saturation, but I wanted to see what would happen if I just let the dye go where it did, not turning the hanks, just squeezing it through (wearing plastic gloves). Once all the dye was on the yarn, I wrapped it in plastic and heated it in the microwave to set the colors. After testing a section to see if the water squeezed through the skeins was clear, and it cooled sufficiently, I put the hanks in a bowl with a little dishwashing liquid and rinsed it. The water was clear, which was a good sign and I hung the skeins to dry.
One hank has a little more natural color than I intended, that one will be used for the hat. If I turned it more or used more dye, maybe it would have turned out differently. The colors weren’t as far off as I thought. When the colors are wet, they are darker, but I was pleased with how they turned out. Eager to see how the yarn would look wound, I put it on my swift and wound the hanks up last night.
A few years ago, I took a class through my favorite yarn shop. Since this was an at home project, I wanted to use dyes that are safe to use in dishes at home and are easy to buy. Drink mixes and food coloring are easy to find and use. Since this is just something I wanted to dabble in and not make a deep dive or further cash outlay, I went with what I had.
Inspiration hasn’t struck yet… When I discover the right pattern for the hat and scarf, then I will start stitching, for now I’m content with admiring my newly dyed yarn and planning the colors for my next four skeins.
