Dyeing with Kool-Aid

Annual Fiber Guild Spring Retreat
dyeing wool with Kool-Aid and food coloring
May 2017
(click collage to enlarge images)

I had a great time at the Guild's annual spring retreat earlier this month. The morning class was dyeing wool yarn with Kool-Aid and food coloring. The Guild purchased all the supplies and paid the instructors, but the class was free. I had a great time.

The class gave me the confidence that I needed to jump in and try the process. I've been wanting to do this for ages. I had some off-white wool that I reclaimed years ago and took two skeins to the class.

skeins of wool that I dyed in the class
Top - the skein provided - 100% wool
Middle and bottom skeins are reclaimed wool
 85% wool and 15% mohair

The instructors had seven large crock pots available for steaming or stewing the yarn. I chose to use the same technique for all three skeins - hand-painting. Others in the class dyed in a bowl in the crockpots as well as using Mason jars for saturated color.

The next day, I decided to dye more skeins in two different immersion dye pots.

blue and green Wilton icing pastes

purple, blue, and red Wilton icing pastes

purple dye pot skeins in the middle
blue dye pot skeins on the end. 

No bleeding during the final rinse, so the color should be colorfast.

reclaimed and dyed yarn
75% wool and 25% nylon

reclaimed and dyed yarn
75% wool and 25% nylon

I'm thrilled with the results - the class yarns and the ones I dyed at home. I will definitely dye more wool in the future.  This class and others in previous years are the main reason I belong to the Fiber Guild: so many talented individuals that are willing to teach, and even more who want to learn new skills.

The turquoise color is my favorite, and I've already cast on a project to see how it looks knit.