So I recently did some dyeing. With Kool Aid. Cause I had some yarn from some sweaters I frogged but I didn’t like the colors. First this, which was originally pastel pink (yuck):
This is a wool-acrylic blend (50/50 I think) from a cardigan I frogged. I’m still not thrilled with the color, but I figure with the high acrylic content, this is as good as it gets. And anyway, the dye took much better than I thought it would. I used… several packets of grape, I think.
I have a sweater quantity here (as it came from a sweater), but I think I’ll use about half of it in a striped pullover with some grey woool. It’ll tone down the pink, and I have a random craving to knit/have a striped pullover.
Next, there was this ugly yellow color that came from a zipper hoodie:
Again, a sweater quantity. Probably a light sport weight. This is 100% merino wool, so it took dye much better:
I wasted a bunch of blue Kool Aid before I figured out it wasn’t going to take up more dye without heat and then I got the hang of it. I dyed the base red and did some grape variation. Not sure what this will become (probably a sweater). I’ll let it marinate in the stash. I’m not complaining–the sweater was probably under two dollars (the thrift store where I bought is 1.59/pound for clothes) and the Kool-aid was probably about two bucks. making the total cost of a sweater quantity of yarn in a color I like about four dollars. Win.
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May 26, 2010 at 9:02 am
Kate
Really love the colors you got into the merino!
May 28, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Judy Workman
I want to try kool aid dying but I am not sure how to start. Did you dye it on the stove or in the microwave? I know people dye in the crock pot, too, but I know nothing about how to do thet either. I’d love to hear your take on dying.
May 28, 2010 at 5:08 pm
bsveum
Whether you use the microwave, stove top or crock pot, the principle is the same. Add water, add kool aid, add yarn, and heat it all up. To create variegation/stripes, add yarn and then kool aid to where you want each color.
I did mine on the stove top in a large pot two skeins at a time. I wasted a lot of kool aid before I realized I needed more heat than you get from the bathtub tap. The water needs to basically boil.
If you do a google search, you can find a number of step by step tuts on the web.