morning project

[verbminx]

Today I'm feeling somewhat better.

I decided to try some Kool-Aid yarn dyeing - Mad Scientwists Wild Watermelon Kiwi drink mix (5 packets, "neon green") and one big 100g skein of Manos del Uruguay yarn in off-white. Also, vinegar (10 oz) and water (30 oz). The smell is atrocious - sickly sweet with a faint hint of acrid rot, as well as the "wet dog" smell of wet wool yarn. (Actually, my dog smells better when she's wet. Seriously.) It's supposed to take up to 45 minutes for the yarn to eat up the dye particles - well, for me, it just took TWO. Two minutes. I'm letting it stew for a while just in case (can't hurt to let it sit in the vinegar to help fix the color).

Two minutes. I have a feeling I'm going to need to dye this skein again. Using TEN packets this time.

You can find information on this over at knitty.com - go to archives, the first issue, features, and it's there. That's not the article I used for instructions (which I don't have a link for at the moment), but it's one that will work just as well.

Comments

[wicker-girl.livejournal.com]

i heard people dye their hair with kool aid sometimes too...... 0__o

[eunice-branca.livejournal.com]

I like Kool-Aid dyeing but it takes so many packages! I tried I think 4 packets for a 18"x24" piece of muslin and it came out all pastelly. At least the packages are cheap! And way more environmentally sound compared to the Procion dyes.

Re:

[verbminx.livejournal.com]

it came out all pastelly because it's muslin. kool-aid dyeing only gives good results on protein fibers. if you try to dye cotton or poly/cotton or nylon or rayon yarn in kool-aid - any plant or synthetic - pastels would be your best results, probably.

and yeah, way easier than Procion. (which I've never used, partly because it *is* such a pain in the booty.)