Kool-Aid
can be used to Dye various kinds of clean wool or mostly wool content.
Make sure the wool is clean -Pre-soak the
fiber for at least half an hour in HOT water with a little dish-soap (Dawn
works well). Rinse well and squeeze out extra water. See hat at bottom
of this page, that was made with Kool-Aid yarn! The yarn I used was
only 20% WOOL and it worked pretty well.
The yarn needs to be a WOOL content (mostly
wool works best) and it helps to wear rubber gloves!
Stovetop method
-
1-2 pkg. unsweetened
Kool-Aid for a 3-6 ounce skein of wool or woolblend.
-
1 pot that will hold approximately
6-8 cups of water.
-
1 c. of white vinegar . Vinegar
helps fix the color to the fiber.
-
Put the pot on the stove, (stainless
steel or unchipped enamal pot - don't use aluminum) with the 6-8 cups water,
and add Kool-Aid and vinegar. Stir until dissolved.
-
Turn on the heat and add wool,
yarn, or even some wool or cotton socks.
-
Bring heat to simmer stage - usually
takes ten minutes. Watch the color disappear from the pot in about 45 minutes
- the water in the pot will end up clear. Some colors require additional
time.
-
I sometimes like to use, say,
Cherry Koolaid, and then as it is dyeing in the pot, I open a package of
blue or purple koolaid, and sprinkle it on the top of the wool that is
exposed. You don't have to completely cover the yarn with water if
you want to do this. It makes for really neat yarn!
-
Once the color is gone from the
water, use a tongs to remove the wool, and place in a sink of cold water.
-
Remove wool and gently squeeze
excess water from skeins, now rinse in warm soapy water, squeeze and hang
to dry. You can also place the skein in a nylon stocking sock, tie
the end shut and place in dryer!
Microwaving Method. (Bev
prefers this!)
This is so much easier to
do for small amounts of wool! For the wool used in the hat below,
the Pinks were done with the dye bath method, but the yellows and blue/green
were done with the microwave method.
- Simply: soak the wool
in a bowl with a squirt of dish soap liquid and hot water, for 1/2 hour.
- take 2 plastic cups, and
place in each: 1 TBsp vinegar and 1 Tbsp of water. Add 1 pkg of unsweetened
Kool-Aid. Stir.
This will dye about 2 oz of
wool.
I used our turkey baster,
but an eye dropper will work too.
Place the wool on a sheet
of plastic wrap (to be used later to wrap wool in)
- suck the dye into the baster
and gently pour on various patches of the wool.
I dyed one end blue and one
end green.
- Now wrap the plastic wrap
around the wool, and place this in a glass bowl.
- Microwave on high for 3
minutes. (any liquid you see in the bowl or wrap should be clear
now)
Remove the wool carefully
from the microwave and drop out of wrap into a bowl of cold water to rinse.
Be CAREFUL not to get burned!
Squeeze excess water out of
wool, and hang on line to dry.
Loomed Kool-Aid Dyed Wool for cap. I
used Cherry, Black Cherry, Orange, Lemon-Lime, BerryBlue.
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Country Cottage or HOW-TO'S