I've said many times that the better I become as a knitter, the more interested I am in other aspects of the knitting process. One of my newest fascinations is dyeing. These are photos of my very first attempt. I used Kool-Aid: 2 packets of Grape and 3 packets of Lemon Lime. Once the green and purple were to my liking, I squirted the middle part with Tropical Punch.
I am very happy with how the yarn turned out. There are gradations in the purple and lime; they are more obvious in the purple parts. I had read somewhere that someone thought the dark purple looked brown when using Kool-Aid. That's not true for me. My dark purple is a real dark purple. Incidentally, I named the colorway The Mad Hatter. There is a local antique store with a lime green and purple storefront.
When I do Kool-Aid dyeing again--and I will--I think I'll do it on top of the stove. I used quart canning jars in the microwave for this project. I had a mess in the microwave from "boil over." It was easily cleaned up. I don't notice that it smelled up my kitchen, and the yarn does not have an overly Kool-Aidie smell.
The next dyeing project is using a Crockpot. I think I'm going to keep to food dyes, but this time use food coloring in past form, available in cake decorating stores or Michaels and probably AC Moore. I think I'll go for a more autumnal look.
Besides this, and knitting, I've been letting the idea for a new project marinate in my mind. It would aid in my quest to create a dynasty!
2 comments:
Although I've only done it once, I loved my Kool-aid experience. Crock Pot dyeing is next on my list!
Your yarn looks great!
I think the colors look fabulous - and you did it with Kool-Aid? That's awesome! When I was a teenager, I used Kool-Aid to temporarily dyed my hair!
Post a Comment