Another dye job!

I tried my hand at dyeing yarn again today, using Kool Aid. Christ alive I couldn't drink the stuff as it smells so over-powering, but drink it I didn't, I did what any sensible person would do and bunged it on some undyed yarn.

My base yarn was 100g (400m/437yds) DT Craft & Design sock yarn (75%BFL/25%nylon) and I used 3 colours/flavours of Kool Aid in the following amounts:

1 sachet Ghoul Aid
2 sachet Black Cherry
2 sachet Grape

First of all I soaked my yarn, whilst doing that I set up my prep area by laying out strips of cling film, then I mixed the Kool Aid in 3 plastic cups with some water. After squeezing out the excess water I laid the yarn on the clingfilm in a large loop.

That's where it got fun :-) I mentally sectioned the yarn and got down to it, first I used the Ghoul Aid and just slowly poured the liquid on to the smallest section of yarn mopping up any excess with kitchen paper. I was wearing rubber gloves so was able to massage the liquid through the yarn, I did the same with the Black Cherry and Grape. The yarn really soaked it up but I was carefull to mop up anything that seemed to be going astray.

I gently wrapped the clingfilm over the yarn and gently lifted it to be put in a pyrex bowl, then I put it in the microwave and nuked it for 1 minute, took it out checked that it was getting hot and then shoved it back in for another minute. I did that a total of four times. Afterwards I set the bowl beside the sink and pulled the yarn out to speed up the cooling process.

Once it was cool enough I filled the sink with some warm water and put in a splash of wool wash and rinced the yarn, there was practically no dye comming out of the yarn so I squeezed out the excess water and it's currently hanging on the maiden to dry.

Having had a good old look at it, the yarn is very tie-dye like, I kind of like that effect (well I do now LOL). bearing in mind it's still wet I can't really tell the difference between the Ghoul Aid and the Grape so I can't wait for it to dry, I'm certainly not brave enough to risk putting the hair dryer on it.

If you're interested in giving it a go there are some tutorials here and here, go on, give it a go it's loads of fun. The best thing is, if I don't like the yarn when it's dry I can give it another go.