Hot Grape Kool-Aid Stinks.

I'm going to preface this by saying I hate grape "flavored" things.  I hate the smell and the taste.  But low and behold... I love the color purple.  So, when you decide to use Kool-Aid to dye your lovely 100%merino wool, guess what flavor you're stuck with?  That's right. 

 Grape.

Needless to say, I suffered for my art today and I think it paid off.

Here's how it went down...

*Note: this is the method for MICROWAVE DYING*

I started with a skein of DK (double knitting) weight of natural merino wool that I had purchased from StickChick on Etsy.  It's a good sized skein, about 124 yards.

First, I soaked the yarn in cool water with a mild detergent while I prepared the dye.

When dying with Kool-Aid you don't have to use any vinegar like when dying with most other dyes. That made me happy since I hate the smell of vinegar too!    The more packets you use, the deeper the color will be and the reverse is the same.

 

For every packet you use, add 1/4 cup of water for dissolving.  So, in a microwave safe container, I mixed two packages of Grape flavored "Mixade" (The Aldi knock off of Kool-Aid!) with a half cup of warm water to dissolve it.

I added my yarn to the dye and filled the bowl with enough water to cover the yarn. I let the yarn sit for a few minutes before popping it into the microwave.

Now, most websites and articles I had read (I found the best tutorial at Knitty.com) said I would only have to repeat this next step once, but I had to do it five times. So basically, just keep doing it until the water is mostly clear.

I heated the yarn in the microwave (still in the bowl of dye of course) for 2 minutes on HIGH.   Then I took it out and let it sit for 2 minutes.

I kept repeating this step until the water in the bowl was clear. Every time I heated the yarn, it absorbed more of the dye.  You can this see in the picture above.   I turned the yarn over once during the process to get a more even colorway.  

Once the water was clear, I removed the yarn from the bowl and let it cool down (it was pretty hot to touch at first).

When it cooled, I rinsed the yarn in water that was the SAME TEMPERATURE as the yarn itself. * If you shock the yarn with either too hot or too cold water it could felt.*

Then I mixed in a little of the same mild detergent as I used earlier and rinsed until the water ran clear.  Really though, none of the dye came off in the washing process which I'll take as a good sign!

I gently squeezed out as much of the excess water as I could and I hung the skein to dry.

So... this has been my first foray into dying and it was pretty simple and fun!  I think I'll probably try it again and try some different color combos in the future.  One thing I'd recommend if you're going to try this, cover your surfaces and use rubber gloves when handling the dyed yarn.  Or keep some Clorox Bleach cleaner on hand! :)

Happy Dying!