Kool Aid Fever - Part One



We had a fun time yesterday dying yarn with Kool Aid! Each kiddle picked out three colors (B: Orange, Cherry, and Lime and E: Arctic Apple, Strawberry, and Berry Blue) and we followed the directions from Creative Knitting January 2006.



But first - a snack! This was my favorite snack as a kid - Kool Aid and popcorn.



I was not surprised to find the Little People doing what I liked to do - dipping the popcorn in the Kool Aid (my favorite was the Lime flavor - it nicely complimented the corn flavor of the popcorn).



Here the the yarn is waiting to be dyed with lots of colors. It is soaking in water with a cup of vinegar added. We wrung it out and placed it in the microwave-safe pans to get ready to dye.



To make the dye, place 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup water, and TWO packets of Kool Aid in a cup. Make one cup for each color and stir a lot.



The colors look nice and beautiful in the clear cups.



We didn't have any droppers, so we put the dye on the yarn with plastic spoons, then flipped it over to get the other side saturated. I got a little impatient with the spooning, so we poured the color on Sissy's yarn. We used all three cups.



Baba took the time to gently place each and every drop of dye on his yarn. He didn't pour any of the dye over the yarn and had less excess in the bottom of the pan.



Our Helper read through the new Mason Dixon Knitting book while we cooked the yarn. We put the pan of yarn in the microwave, cooked it for 2 minutes, then cooled it for 2 minutes. We repeated this cycle four times. After it cooled, we rinsed the yarn in the sink (no dye came out at all!), and then laid it in the sun to dry.


Lessons learned and tips we discovered:
- Wear gloves when flipping over the yarn.
- Start dying with a Kool Aid snack.
- Make sure you share the fun with a friend.
- Spread out the dye so it covers more yarn, but don't use too much or the colors will blend too much.
- Kool Aid yarn smells really good when dry (but not so good when hot and wet).

Check out Kool Aid Fever - Part Two, for the best part - yarn ready to knit!!