We were at a sheep and goat festival today and I overheard a woman talking about kool-aid dyeing wool. She said she packs it all into a mayonnaise jar, pours hot water over, then sprinkles in several different colors of koolaid, and it makes a rainbow effect. I'm trying to picture how this would work; it seems to me the colors would just mix together and make one color. Anyone tried it and can enlighten me?
Also, i got two big hanks of yarn for only $5.50 each, tax included. :) They remind me of LTK wool.

I do a similar thing, but I spread it in a pyrex baking pan and pour the Kool-Aid (mixed with a little water) over it, then bake it in the oven. I wet it first with water and a bit of vinegar. I usually dye the wool before spinning, but you can certainly do the same thing with yarn. The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook has instructions for several differenty dyeing techniques, and they work with Kool-Aid.

I have done something similar as well. I wetted the wool with vinegar mixture and put it in a lasagna pan. Then I put kool-aid on the wool by the tablespoon, I used 6 colours. If you want to see the result then look
http://www.crazyestonian.com/myprojects/myknittedtoys.html
you have to scroll a bit down to see. It would work well in a jar as well but then you need to bake it in the sun and there was no sun the week I tried this. I just steamed my wool in the steamer basket for a while (donīt own a microwave oven).

The colors donīt really mix because the wetted wool sucks up the kool-aid so fast that there is really not time to mix unless you are literally pouring different colors on the wool in the same time. Also, if you are wiser than me, use less colors :) And there is always the possibility to choose colors that look good even when mixed, like yellow, pink, red, orange or blue, green, yellow or blue, red, pink, purple.

--anu

Welcome to the wonderful world of kool aid dyeing! LOL! ;)

Here's a link that I used when I tried it for the 1st time: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

Have fun, it's a blast to do and really easy too.

I've been seriously considering dyeing up some yarn myself with Kool-Aid.
What yarns do you recommend for this?

I've done Fisherman's and Peace Fleece with kool aid - worked well. http://photobucket.com/albums/v158/amey311/ has some pictures of the wool.

Oh wait. I lied. The greens are koolaid (all the green flavors with some lemonade), the red/blue/yellow is wilton icing color - the "pooh" collection (it was on clearance) with some red food coloring (the liquid) from the restaurant supply place - they have it in 8 ounce bottles for cheap.

another link for ideas: http://mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74201

I use the glass baking dish/microwave method, but I did a solid color with a "sun tea" method that worked well, and was actually really cool to see happen. You take a sizeable glass jar, fill with water, add your koolaid packets, then add the yarn and submerge. Sit it in the sun. You'll know it's done when the water is clear and the yarn is colored.

~amey

Be aware of something I discovered this weekend. KoolAid and Wilton dyes fade VERY fast in the sun. These had even been washed so they were color fast. But, I left some yarn in my car and it is now very pale blue after being deep purple and light pink. It is alllll pale blue. Luckily, it is very pretty. But, I was shocked. I will be making sure things are tucked well in my bag.

Oooh, thanks for the great links. She may have been talking about dyeing fleece, as she was a spinner, and was sitting there spinning some beautifully dyed fleece at the time. Gorgeous deep purples and blues.
I've been wondering about Jello. I have some on hand, I wonder if it would work?

That is a bummer about the koolaid fading in the sun, though.

I've never had a problem with Kool-Aid dyed fibers fading in the sun.

Thea, how long do you bake it, and on what temperature? Also, do you bake it covered or uncovered?

I wonder if the hardness of the water could have something to do with the color bonding to the fibers differently, causing some to fade in the sun?

A thread at wooly wonder that talks about setting dyes in the oven: http://woolywonder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4814&highlight=oven

also, a link to the yarn dyeing subform over there: http://woolywonder.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=60

~amey