Getting The Yarn Color You Want With Kool-Aid

What do you think it takes to go from this:

to this:

Dangerous chemicals? Heavy metals, bug carapaces, dust masks, full-arm latex gloves, HazMat gear? A trip to a pricey art supply store? Would you be surprised it I told you that all it takes is six packets of Kool-Aid from your local grocery store? Incredibly, that IS all it takes. A little bit of Kool-Aid, a pot, some yarn and a bit of time. White vinegar, if you want to speed things up. Dyeing most yarns is as simple as a quick trip to the grocery store!

There are a few things you should know before rushing out to buy out your supermarket. First off, Kool-Aid really only works on protein fibers; wools and fur, and to a lesser extend, silk. Things like cotton, linen and acrylic don’t get along with Kool-Aid, and will require a more specialized dye. But wool yarns are easier to find than changin’ cherry Kool-Aid, so don’t panic! Just make a stop over at your local yarn shop (LYS – that’s what it means!) and pick up some white yarn in your choice of weights. I’d recommend going with a less expensive yarn until you get the hang of dyeing with this medium… er, Kool-Aid!

Once you have your yarn, your shopping list will look something like this:

Kool-Aid packets – not the pre-mixed with sugar kind, or you’ll have really sticky yarn. At least six packets, up to 20 per skein of yarn.
White Vinegar, for speeding the process up.
Kitchen gloves – unless you want to temporarily dye your hands in the process!
Saran Wrap, if you plan on painting your yarn. (I’ll cover painting in another lesson. Get the wrap for that lesson!)
Windex, or any ammonia-based cleaning spray. The ammonia base is important!

Things you probably will already have at home:
A pot large enough to easily hold all of your yarn and enough water for it to swim about freely. (Or you can use a large bowl and microwave. I prefer pots.)
Paper towels.
Dish washing soap. Not dishwasher soap, but the hand washing kind.
Strainer or colander and a long handled spoon. (Preferably the plastic or metal kind.)
Something to mix the Kool-Aid and water in. (I use a salad dressing cruet that I got at the grocery store. I like that lid!)
Large bowl, if you plan on using the vinegar. You can use the pot for this, but I like the separate bowl.
A good sized towel. Preferably one you don’t mind getting dye on.

It looks like a lot, doesn’t it? It’s really not that bad, and you can and will reuse much of it if you dye more yarn. (You will… it’s addictive!)

Step one is to get everything together.

See the cruet?

I’m doing mulberry silk yarn this time around. Something to keep in mind if you are dying silk with Kool-Aid is that it doesn’t take as much color up as a wool, so you’ll use more Kool-Aid overall, and the extra color rinses out at the end. Either way, here is my yarn, all skeined up, and tied with some extra yarn in four places. This is the easiest form to die yarn in, to me.

If your yarn doesn’t come like this, you can simply wrap it around your forearm, going from your hand, around your elbow and back up to your hand, just like when wrapping a garden hose up. Only much lighter and not nearly as dirty!

If you are going to use the vinegar to speed up the dyeing process, put your yarn in the bowl and fill it with just enough water to cover the yarn. Add in a cup or two of the vinegar, and leave it be until it’s time to put it in the dye pot. Be very careful not to squeeze or rub or stir your yarn, especially if it is wool. It WILL felt. Just press the yarn down gently in to the vinegar solution and leave it alone!

This is some merino soaking in a vinegar solution. Resist all urges to touch the yarn.

Grab whatever you happen to be mixing your Kool-Aid in, and fill it about 3/4 of the way full of very hot water. Mix each color of Kool-Aid in. How many packets you put in is entirely up to you. Anywhere from 1 to 6 packets works, depending on how much space you have in your container, and how dark you want your yarn. More Kool-Aid = darker colors. I think I had four or five in the larger container (the cruet – and that is grape Kool-Aid in there).

Strawberry Kiwi, Black Cherry and Berry Blue are the other colors. I only used the Cherry on this one.

Once you have all of your colors mixed up, carefully remove the yarn from the vinegar solution. You can let a bit drip off, or use the colander to strain it. Just don’t squeeze or smoosh it. Trust me, you really don’t want your yarn to felt! Fill your pot with just enough water to cover your yarn – aim for water about the same temperature as your now wet yarn. (If you didn’t vinegar soak, soak it for a few minutes in room temperature water. Do NOT mess with it, just let it soak the water up!) Place your yarn in the water-filled pot. Push it down GENTLY with the spoon.

The silk yarn in the dye pot, before adding Kool-Aid.

Turn the stove on to medium, or however high it takes for your stove to bring water to just below a simmer. You want steam rising from the surface of the water, but no bubbles. The felting thing again, you know. Once your water hits the steaming point, you can start adding in your Kool-Aid.

Straight Black Cherry. Lots of it.

ThePiper.com has a great Kool-Aid color chart, which can be found here.

The goal here is for your yarn to soak up all the dye, and leave the water more or less clear. It might be milky white, depending on the flavor of Kool-Aid you used. If your yarn soaks up all the dye and still isn’t the color you want, feel free to add more Kool-Aid in – this isn’t exact science! Have fun – experiment, mix and match, tweak and adjust! You may need to move your yarn around in the dye pot, to get all of it colored. If this is the case, do it slowly and very, very gently. And do it as little as possible. I mean this – I have felted yarn when dyeing it. It makes you want to cry!

Once you are satisfied with your yarn color, turn your stove off and very carefully drain your dye pot, using the strainer/colander. Now, fill you sink with the absolutely hottest water you can get out of your tap. You are aiming for water as hot as what was in your dye pot. Please, don’t put your hands in there – it HURTS! If you have two sinks, have one filled with the hot water before you strain your dye pot. Carefully place your yarn in the sink of hot water, and let it soak for a bit. The water will turn all sorts of pretty colors, but don’t panic. This is normal!

Now, just back away from the sink. I know, you want to stand there and watch, but the urge to play, stir, poke and in general agitate your yarn will overpower you, and you will end up with one big felty mass of not-yarn. Go find something to do for half an hour to an hour. Go on. Go.

When the water is cool enough that you don’t cringe when putting your bare hands in it, drain the water. Just to clarify, the water shouldn’t be able to classify as hot. Warm. You want your yarn to very, very slowly cool down. Spread your towel out on the counter. If your yarn has stopped bleeding color, go ahead and lift it out of the sink and place it on the towel. If not, you can try to rinse your yarn in the colander (or strainer… to each their own!) under a medium flow of water the same temperature as the hottest part of the yarn. (Yes, I know you pulled it out early. I did it too the first few times. And it FELTED. You thought I was kidding, didn’t you?) Eventually the water will run clear. When it does, place it carefully on the towel. Roll the yarn up in the towel much like you would a fajita or burrito; gently press down on the yarn with each 180 degree roll, to get the water out. Once you reach the end of the towel, go head and unroll it. Behold your yarn in all it’s fruittastic glory! Mostly likely your yarn will still be damp. Go ahead and hang it up in a shower or over a tub, to allow the rest of the water to drip out. Yes, go ahead and take pictures. Why yes, we’d LOVE to see them – how kind of you to ask!

Once your yarn is dry, go ahead and ball or skein or what-not it up in to whatever form you prefer for knitting or crocheting. Gaze at it lovingly, stroke it, carry it around with you, talk to complete strangers about it… or hide it in your yarn stash. What happens next is up to you.