Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

I've heard of dying yarn with Kool-Aid but had never given it a second thought. I've dyed yarn before with acid based dyes that I get at my local art supply store. I have to admit, dying with Kool-Aid was much easier and smelled much better. You don't have to use vinegar to set the dye which is nice so the kitchen smelled like lime and strawberries and oranges.

I read on-line that Kool-Aid does a better job on animal based-fibers. I haven't tried this technique with plant-based fibers but if my cotton t-shirt proves anything, Kool-Aid will dye the crap out of whatever you have.

Pictured above: The gloves I should have been wearing

I found some great info on the dyeing process here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see color samples of what the different flavors will produce. You'll be surprised at some of the results.

Take my advice and please use your gloves. I wasn't wearing mine when I mixed the powder with some water and ended up with bright red, green and blue spots on my skin.

Check out what I made with my Kool-Aid yarn:

The Entangled Stitches pattern I converted to fingerless mitts

For this color combo I used 6 packets of Lemon Lime, set the dye and then dumped the yarn into a bowl with 6 packets of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade to fill in the white spots. If you want really bright patches of color you can apply the powder directly to wet yarn.