Dying with Kool Aid

They are lurid and candy like. And fascinatingly addictive. And so easy. I mean so easy. If you have never dyed wool before this would be a great place to start; it's utterly fail and fool proof.



First you get your skein of wool (if it's in a ball already unwind around the back of a chair into a skein - tie each finished end loosely so you don't end up with a spaghetti-tangle). Soak this in cold water for about half an hour, until it is well and truly saturated. A squeeze of washing up liquid helps this along.



Get a nice big pan and empty in your sachet of Kool Aid, adding enough water that you think will cover your wool. Important to note that with Kool Aid it is not the quantity of water you use - as at the end you will end up with a pot of clear water; the dye disappears magically into the wool. So use enough to cover. I used two sachets to 50g of wool. Other instructions I have found say similar - that one sachet gives 25g of wool good colour.



So once the wool is wet, squeeze the water out gently and pop it into the pan of dye. Now heat. Don't boil, but simmer for about twenty minutes. I don't have a microwave but if you do you can find instructions here for that method. The citric acid and the heat are supposedly what 'fix' the dye, the mordant.



Set your coloured spaghetti-wool aside and let it cool. Don't be tempted to speed up the process and drain and rinse with cool water yet as you will end up with felted wool - quick changes in temperatures cause felting (sadly I have experience this far too many times in the washing of wool items over the years with my tendency towards impatience).



And so, drain, rinse, squeeze gently, very gently, in a towel and hang some where warm to dry.





Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Sit back and admire your hand dyed candy shaded wool. Run and show every family member at least twice. Call and email someone to tell them you dyed your own wool for the first time. Or even, blog about it too.

Natural dyes. My next plan.