I’ve had questions about Kool-aid dyeing before, and am getting them once again.  So, here goes – Niki’s Guide to Kool-Aid Dyeing (your mileage may vary!).  These are sort of the techniques we used to dye the 3-color sock yarn in the pictures below.

1 oz of wool requires 1 pack of kool-aid, 2 oz. vinegar, 4 oz. cool water.  We had 3 dye pots (actually plastic disposable food containers – somewhat tall, and probably put enough in each container for 2 oz of wool.  The yarn was put into long skeins (probably about a yard long), with about 400 yds of sock yarn per skein, then soaked in warm water for about 20 minutes.  Pull it out, squeeze out the excess water.  Dip (one end) about 1/3 of the skein into one cup, the other end (again about 1/3) into another cup.  It will soak up quickly, and reds tend to run up your yarn.  We then pulled the center 1/3 down into the 3rd cup, trying not to overlap the colors too much.  Let them soak until the water has gone mostly clear (usually about 10 minutes), then carefully pull out and squeeze out excess (easier said than done).  Wrap the skein fairly tightly in plastic wrap, then roll it up like sushi, put it in a glass (Pyrex) bowl, then microwave for 2 minutes.  Check it after 2 minutes to see if any remaining water is clear.  If so, it’s done.  If not, let it cool for a minute or so, then zap it for another minute.  After the package cools off, open it up, pour the yarn into a colander, and rinse, starting with hot water, gradually moving to cool so as not to felt the yarn. Hang to dry!

Some hints on kool-aid:
Make sure your yarn is a protein fiber such as wool.
Creamy yarn takes the colors differently than white yarn.
Superwash wool can be dyed, but sucks up the dye very quickly and somewhat unevenly.
Cover your countertops – kool-aid stains!
There is no good kool-aid purple – it all comes out kind of muddy.  We tried to get a purple by mixing a red and blue – got burgundy instead (but we liked it!).
Be careful when you buy your kool-aid – they are making “invisible” colors which do not dye!  (I know that sounds obvious, but it’s easy to get them by mistake).
Trick for seeing the color of the kool-aid (since the names can be very unhelpful) – look at the color in the pitcher on the front of the package.  That is the color of the mix.

I’d love to see your pictures and hear how your dyeing worked out!

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