Sunday, July 15, 2012

Kool Aid Yarn Dyeing

A few weeks ago I tried my hand at Kool Aid Yarn Dyeing. This was my first attempt at yarn dyeing and I would have to say it was a success! This technique is very simple and a great way to experiment if you want to give yarn dyeing a try. Here is what you will need:

**Kool Aid Packets
**Glass bowls/containers
**Unbleached Wool yarn (or white/light colored wool yarn)
**water


I wanted to do four colors(pink,blue,orange, and yellow) on my skein of yearn, so before begining I wound my yarn around a box of cereal, in order to section off where I would put the colors.

I sectioned off where the colors would go by tieing scraps of yarn in four different sections.

Next I boiled some water to mix with the Kool Aid.
I really didn't measure out how much water. I just filled each glass bowl with maybe a cup of bowling water each.

I then dipped each section of the yarn in the four colors. I used a spoon to push the yarn into the dye, making sure to saturate it all the way through. Where I tied off the sections on the skein, allowed for a little section of the natural yarn to show through. I ended up really liking the end result.

After the yarn is the desired color, hand rinse it and then allow to air dry.


Here are a few extra tips:

**The actual color of the Kool Aid is NOT the color of the packet. It is the color of the Kool Aid in Mr. Kool Aid's pitcher on the package.
**I only used one packet of each color. Next time I would use at least two for a deeper color.
**The four packets of Kool Aid I used was only enough to do one skein of yarn.
**I have read that you can use a wool blend yarn but synthetic fibers do not hold the color, therefore your color might bleed or not take as well.
**I used Hobby Lobby's I love this Wool yarn in an off white.

Happy Yarn Dyeing! If you try this technique I would love to see what it looks like. Please leave a comment with a link below!

XOXO
Amber

1 comment:

Velma said...

this is so cool!! I want to try this!!