More Kool-Aid dyeing

[earthwhisper]

You can read about it here (http://crazycrafter.blogspot.com/2005/09/kool-aid-time.html)
here (http://crazycrafter.blogspot.com/2005/09/kool-aid-result.html)
here (http://crazycrafter.blogspot.com/2005/09/kool-aid-results-part-1.html)
and here (http://crazycrafter.blogspot.com/2005/09/kool-aid-results-part-2.html)...

It was a lot of fun! I will be doing it again soon.

[Alosha]

Thanks for sharing. I have been wanting to do this for a while. BTW, I was born & raised in Turlock. While most of my family is still there, I moved to the big city...Modesto, hehehe
:)Alosha

[earthwhisper]

Alosha,
You are killing me! I was born and raised in Modesto, moved to Missoula, then Seattle, now am in Turlock...ha ha! My family is in Modesto.

ps...Modesto has a lot of places for yarn...Michaels, JoAnns, Walmart, and Beverly's, and that Paper store in the McHenry Village all has yarn. There is a local yarn store in Ripon and also in Turlock.


Thanks for sharing. I have been wanting to do this for a while. BTW, I was born & raised in Turlock. While most of my family is still there, I moved to the big city...Modesto, hehehe
:)Alosha

[divaborn]

Love the colors!!!! Definitely a FANTASTIC job!:clap :clap

[Frangipani]

You did a great job. And the colours came out very bright!!! Mind going over the process with us? Mine didn't come out that bright but it may have been the brand of yarn.


Cheers,
Bec

[Alosha]

That is a bit weird. My daughter escaped, she lives on the coast. I haven't been to Paper Habit (?) yet. Got a question, can you felt the wool after you dye it? Or will Kool Aid fade?
:)Alosha

[earthwhisper]

Yes, you can felt wool after you dye it. I have seen some people make some beautiful bags with Kool-Aid dyed wool. No, I don't think the colors will fade much. I think the might if you wash the item over the years and also sunlight will cause it to fade.

The last time I was in the Paper Habit I noticed they mostly had "scarf yarn." That is what I call it. They also have hooks and needles there. They really do have a large amount of yarn, considering it is a paper store, ha ha!

[earthwhisper]

I put saran wrap onto my counter top, 3 long sheets. Then, I mixed up the Kool-Aid with about 6 ozs of water and 2 ozs vinegar. I partitioned off the wool real tight, like you are doing a tie dye. I kind of poured the dye in the middle of the sections and used the medicine dropper where I missed areas. I used my gloved fingers to squish it around.

I learned it is better to dye one section, wrap the saran wrap around pretty good and then go onto the next section. If a color was too light, like yellow, I used 3 colors of Kool-Aid and the same amount of water/vinegar. In fact, with some of my brighter colors it was because I did the 3 packs. Also, there were a few spots where I literally rubbed the Kool-Aid powser (kind of wet and mixed into a paste) into the yarn, just to see what it would do.

As I was wrapping up the sections, dye would pool out into the center/danger zone....I was trying not to mix colors. I found out if you throw a old dish towel on top of it to absorb the liquid that worked the best. Then, put the whole plastic wrapped up yarn conglomerate into a dish in the microwave. I used a plastic cheapy dish that I don't cook in.

Then, you nuke it 2 minutes, let it sit 2 minutes, check it (to see if the dye has run clear like water), nuke it 2, sit 2, check, nuke2, sit2, check...etc. Until when you squish the yarn and the dye is running clear like water. That means the dye has been exhausted.

I have friends that do this differently. They take an old pot and put it on the stove and but the koolaid/water/vinegar mixture into it. When it starts to steam (not boil) they drop the section of the yarn they are trying to dye into the pot. They hold it there until all of the dye in the pot is gone and it looks like water is left in the pot. She told me the first part that hits the dye in the water gets the most color, but she thinks this is a way of dying without getting the pooling effect. Then, she puts the next color in the pot of water and continues her dyeing, until she gets all of the colors she wants done.

After you do the dyeing, you take it to the sink and pour some dish soap and it and some warmish water and you wash the yarn. I kind of pat all of the water out of it and then hang it up on a coat hanger to dry. It dried pretty fast here. I set it outside and it was dry within a few hours.

So, that is my adventure in dyeing. This was only my first little adventure...and I am sure my technique will advance the more I do it.

I found that it is probably best to dye colors that if they do mix it turns into a pleasant color. So, having a yellow next to a purple might not be an eye pleasing one. However, I have a gorgeous hank of red/orange/pink/yellow that just looks awesome because there was minimal pooling and what dye did get over to the other side looked like it was done on purpose.


You did a great job. And the colours came out very bright!!! Mind going over the process with us? Mine didn't come out that bright but it may have been the brand of yarn.


Cheers,
Bec

[Alosha]

Great! I have done a little dyeing in the past, though not with Kool Aid & right now I'm having fun with felting. Can't wait to combine the two.
:)Alosha

[earthwhisper]

I felted my Kool-Aid dyed yarn. It is in my blog... (http://crazycrafter.blogspot.com/2005/09/teeny-tiny-felted-tote.html)

[GinaLaughed]

Thanks so much for sharing your adventures in dyeing with us! I was searching the internet to find instructions (and I found some) but after reading your adventures and actually seeing the pics in your blog I feel more equipped and very eager to do this. I also plan to felt a bag with the yarn I dye. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm headed to JoAnn's now! :)

[HappyknitandcrochetFreak]

Thank you so much for sharing:flower

We dont have kool aid in Norway, but I stayed in Philadelphia for one year in 1992-93 and I remember it as a softdrink:lol

Do people drink it ?? Is it really unhealthy to drink ?

Anyway, it looks really fun to dyeing yarn with:yay :yay

:hug from Norway