Hand Dyed Yarn - with kool aid

I picked up some bulky blue virgin wool yarn at an estate sale last week. It was very old, but still in the original packaging w/ no moth or water damage. It was an ugly shade (to me) of blue. My grandmother knitted baby clothes for my uncle and dad, and even for us. It was densely knitted, inflexible and uncomfortable for sensitive young skin, and that horrendous shade of blue. It was neither sky nor mint nor anything attractive, there is just something I don't like about it.

Then I found that kool-aid was on sale at Von's (through Dec 20th!) so I grabbed a stack, read up on knitty's great article on kool-aid dyeing and got to work. I did some test patches, and ended up only useing reds and purples, as the lemonade left it looking like a dog had peed on it.

I used the microwave method. It was fast, and the yarn was so hungry that the water was clear when it was done absorbing the colors.


The gloves leaked, so I ended up taking them off after doing 4 skeins. Citric acid is in kool-aid and it works as the mordant that allows the dye to stick to the yarn, so you don't need to add other chemicals. But it is Still acid, so my hands were a bit raw afterwards. A good blob of Weleda hand cream and some cotton gloves and my hands were fine today.


I did 8 total, and they are still drying. I used 4 colors per skein, and dyed them at 1' intervals.

I want to make some warm hats for my brother and sister-in-law who are experiencing their first winter in New Jersey. Hope I have time to knit and felt them before Xmas.