The Kool Aid Kid

Yesterday, Nancy P. and I put away our knitting needles, scissors and sewing machines, donned aprons and became "mad scientists" for a couple of hours to try dyeing yarn.  Lion Brand Yarn recently posted directions for dyeing yarn with Kool Aid and it sounded like fun to us.  While we followed the directions in a general sense, we did some experimenting too.  We tried dyeing some acrylic and wool/acrylic blends in addition to 100% wool.  Though all of the yarns  absorbed the dye to some extent, the 100% wool resulted in the truest and most vibrant colors.  We also tried dyeing the yarn without doing the preliminary soapy bath (we were running out of dishes, hence the flower vase above).    Finally, we eliminated the step of preparing the yarn in a loose hank and stuffed a 50 gram ball of wool into the vase with Cherry Kool Aid.  Our hypothesis proved true - the dye was absorbed at different strengths throughout the ball of yarn resulting in a gentle variegation of pinks.  Nancy has plans to turn this into a hat.  I recently found directions for Kool Aid yarn dyeing that goes beyond the single color and includes a free pattern for a scarf and beret.  Looks like there may be more experimenting at The QuiltedPurl!