As I am having a self-imposed day of ‘fun stuff’ to try and replicate the sunny weather in my general well-being and happiness, I decided that it would be a good opportunity to pull out those packets of Kool Aid that I brought down to London with me and brighten up some yarn. Now, this is my first attempt at dyeing anything via any method, but the relatively innocuous substance of a powdered fruit drink, kindly sent to me as a surprise gift, seemed a good place to start.
Kool Aid is probably familiar to most Americans, but readers in the UK may not be so familiar with this beverage. Bought in small sachets of only 6g, Kool Aid is a super concentrated, super saturated drink powder. The food dyes in this drink are powerful enough to dye wool, and unlike when dyeing with other acid dyes you do not need to add vinegar as there is enough acidity in the powder to give the correct PH level for the dye to take. And people drink this in volume. Oh, and they add sugar, but you won’t be needing that if you intend to use it for its secondary, unintentional use.
I discovered by the power of Google that all you need to dye your own yarn with Kool Aid is some yarn (I guess you figured that bit out for yourself, but you want a 100% animal fibre yarn for best results – man-made fibre won’t work) some Kool Aid (one or more sachets depending on if you want a single colour, pastel shades or more saturated hues) a microwaveable receptacle and a microwave.
Preparing yarn with Kool Aid, ready to dye in the microwave
I started off by tying my yarn in a big skeined length, because I wanted to create a self-striping yarn. I made the skein by wrapping the yarn over the edge of a 4ft table (so the skein is about 8ft in circumference) and tying in a few places with figure-eight ties so the yarn didn’t tangle. The next step was to soak the yarn in a sink of cold water for 15 minutes whilst I mixed the Kool Aid.
I used two colours of Kool Aid (Lemon-Lime and Cherry) and mixed each with about ½ pint of cold water. Then I inhaled – it really does smell quite lovely! I was tempted at this point to decant some with a little more water and some sugar and give it a try, but I didn’t think my teeth would forgive me so I resisted.
I then had a moment where I suddenly realised that I hadn’t adequately planned my next step. I couldn’t find two microwaveable containers that would fit in the tiny microwave side by side, to allow me to dip each half of the skein into separate colours. Settling on a ‘dish within a dish’ set-up I poured the green mix into the smaller container, and then sat that in the larger container of red mix.
Microwaving, setting and rinsing the Kool Aid dyed yarn
I placed the yarn into the dye baths with half of the yarn in the green mixture and the other half in the red concoction, using a fork to make sure that all of the yarn was submerged to the best of my ability. Where the two colours meet there is a section of orangey yellow, which I really love. It is a very short length – two or three inches, but it reminds me of fruit salad chew sweets from my childhood. Anyway, once I was happy I zapped it in the microwave for two minutes. I inspected, stirred the yarn a bit more with a fork, prodded and poked and then zapped it for another two minutes. After another prod followed by a three minute zap I decided that it would do. Much of the dye had no been pulled into the yarn and the liquid it was resting in had a much greater degree of clarity.
I then showed much more restraint than I usually do and walked away. I resisted the urge to look, to prod, to inspect, to fiddle and I let it be. The intention is to let it cool to room temperature. Now if it was a cup of tea on a sideboard, interrupted by a marketing spam phonecall, it would go cold in the blink of an eye. But much like a watched pot never boils, this watched dish of yarn would not cool.
After what seemed like hours I decided it was cool enough and removed the yarn into a sink of cool water to rinse and relax. Hardly any dye came out of the yarn at all in my rinses. Superb.
A quick squeeze in a towel and a spell on the balcony on this warm et breezy day and the yarn is complete. I think this deserves a drum roll…
Ta-dah!
Kool Aid dyed yarn
Kool Aid is available in supermarkets in America and various other countries, but is hard to come by in Europe due to a EU ruling on food colourings linked to child hyperactivity. It is available to purchase from specialist American food retailers online, on eBay and also various yarn and dye companies, regularly sold for the exact activity above, though if you have friends or relatives in the US it might be cheaper if you request that they send you some.
It’s so exciting for me that I am in danger of overwhelming you all with pictures, so I’ll limit myself to one last one and not give into the temptation of posting pictures of every single skein of yarn.
