and the first attempt is a bust, albeit a fun one...

On a recent episode of Knitty Gritty, I watched Jamie Dixon demonstrate a dyeing technique that seemed within reach for even a novice like myself. One little tag line at the end had me hooked. She mentioned using KoolAid instead of the toxic acid dyes she'd used.

I spent the next couple days reading everything I could (online, of course) on the subject and then made a run to the local discount grocery for some generic KoolAid. I grabbed my supplies, the only available cream colored skein I had and set to work.

My girls wanted in on the action, so they helped me paint the yarn with some KoolAid. It was a lot of fun to squish the liquid into the yarn and watch it soak right in! The girls all took turns, but I forgot to grab my camera until we were nearly finished.

The green and blue came out beautifully on the freshly painted skein. The third color was supposed to be a deep royal blue but I couldn't get that color with KoolAid so it ended up being a muddy purple mess.

I wrapped the yarn up in the cling wrap and steamed it in the microwave until the water was clear. Rinsed it, hung it to dry and them attempted (key word) to wind it into a hank.

As it turns out, the skein I happened to have laying around was a wool blend with a very high acrylic content. The colors which were so beautiful and vibrant on the table ended up very muted and bland on the finished hank.

It's still a pretty colorway, but it seems very generic and boring to me. I think I'll have to recreate the experiment with a 100% wool next time.

So my first attempt at dyeing wasn't too successful. But it was a lot of fun...

...this could get dangerous!