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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Kool Aid Dyeing!

It felt much warmer outside than 80 degrees as we dyed Lorna's Lace Shepherd Worsted 100% Superwash Wool. It started out in Natural. We soaked it in water first. We filled the other bowls with the Kool-Aid packet and very warm tap water. We untwisted the hanks, but left them tied. Above, Chickee has one end in the blue, the other end in the green, in the span between bowls, she used a turkey baster to squirt it with purple.
Decisions, decisions.
Immediately upon putting the yarn in the dye bowls, it soaked up all the dye. When we pulled out the yarn... the water was nearly clear! So we couldn't use that color again, because it was mostly used up! Then we pulled them out, squeezed out the water and lay them out to dry. But then I hung them out on clothes hangers on the deck in the hot sun. It took about 6 hours to dry. We did the dyeing in the morning and by 7pm they were dry!
So we wound them into balls using the yarn swift. It was much easier than I thought. I was worried the hanks had gotten tangled, but it was not an issue at all!
Here's our four dyed hanks turned into balls. Top left is pale blue and pale green. Top right is blue, purple and green. bottom left is purple, pale green and a little red. The bottom right is red and purple mixed together with the leftover blue thrown in. When we found a white spot on it, we filled it in with purple.
And here, by 9pm, Chickee is knitting with it! How Kool is that! (insert groan here). We'll definitely do this fun activity again next summer.

8 comments:

Gill said...

Hi Ellen
this looks fun!!
Is Kool Aid available in the UK??
What is it anyway?? Is it like the Procion dyes?
Gill

glor said...

Oh my gosh, the coloring of the yarn is wonderful. I may have to try that. Have a wonderful day.

Unknown said...

That looks fun. I keep telling myself it would be fun and easy to do it but never seem to get around to doing it.

Deidre Eyles said...

That's so much easier than I thought! I want to dye my Briggs & Little wool yarn:)

Fruitful Fusion said...

Does Kool Aid need to be fixed??? I've never done this but it looks like fun!

Moe said...

Kool-Aid?
Does that mean you can never wash your creation?
Or does that mean the food coloring is really strong?

Unknown said...

I love the colors you used!
I gotta give this a try!
What kind of yarns? Can you felt it?

Lori Lynn said...

That looks really neat! Can you use any 100% Superwash wool yarn? And once the yarn is dyed can you was the project?