Being a designer is tough because it makes you picky. I had experimented with Kool Aid a while back and, while it was fun, I didn’t keep up with it because I had so many ideas in my head and I couldn’t make the yarn match it. I think to really have the skill and control of someone like, say, Tanis, you really have to be a colour expert and dedicate lots of time and energy to it. It’s something I definitely aspire to be better at, but in the meantime Kool Aid is a fun way to get your feet wet!
So the challenge I set myself was ‘can I dye a gradient’?. The idea of dying a gradient was inspired by the Little Fair Isle Hat from the Purl Bee. They do a great job with skeins of different colours and I was intrigued by the way the lightest colour just blends into the piece. It turns out it’s very possible to dye a gradient: here’s how I did it.
- Get some yarn (easy, right?) and some Kool Aid packets. I used 100% Alpaca from Alpaca Acres here in Ontario – the softest and most luxurious stuff you can imagine :) Natural fibre is important because the dye won’t take on acrylic or other synthetic yarns. For Kool Aid I used 3 packets of Lemon-Lime and one package of… Blue. I think it was called Ice Berry.
- Using a kitchen scale I measured my skein into 10 gram hanks, which I retied very loosely. If you don’t have a scale you can guestimate it – just divide the yarn into 5-6 equal parts.
- Pour all the Kool Aid into a pot filled with water, put it on the stove and put all the yarn hanks into it. Start bringing it to a slow simmer. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes pull out one hank – this will be your lightest one. Set the timer for 5 minutes again. As a guideline, every 5 minutes you’ll take out one more of your mini-skeins. The result was that I had a nice gradient from ones that had been in the shortest time to my last hank – which was in for a full 40 minutes. I say a guideline only, because you really need to do a visual check to see if enough dye has been absorbed, and adjust your time accordingly.
- Wash each skein gently in a mild wool wash or mild soap as it comes out, to wash away excess Kool Aid. I used Soakwash – the patron saint of all my yarn projects :)
I was very happy with my results, and set about making an adult version of the Little Fair Isle Hat. I cast on the same amount, but on 4.5 mm needles and I added quite a bit of length to it, for a slouchy hat.
For fun I wound all the leftover yarn together.
It’s colourfast, even though I didn’t use vinegar to help set it. Apparently Kool Aid is so acidic that you don’t need it.
I love the results :) Especially on the hat!
Here is a great tutorial from knitty.com if you want to read more on it, and if you take a crack at dying I’d love to see photos!
This is really cool! I’m so impressed at the awesome results that you were able to get using Kool-Aid! Your hat looks awesome.
Thanks Tanis! I love the pics of your studio – seeing a little of how TFA gets made is so exciting!
This is awesome! Could you dye a plain white t-shirt like this?
Hi Allysa – I’m not sure! I know that with yarn it has to be an animal fibre – wool, alpaca, merino etc. because the dye doesn’t take on acrylic or polyester. Having said that though it might work on 100% cotton – but I don’t know how saturated or colourfast the results would be. It’s worth giving it a shot, and if you try it I’d love to know how it works out!
So pretty! I love the shades of green that you ended up creating. And that hat is great.
You nailed it, your hat is gorgeous. I all so draw my inspiration from artists like Tanis for my dye pot adventures, they are very talented.
Thank Annie – I knew you’d love it! My next alpaca/Koolaid experiment is trying to dye an ombre gradient, I’ll send you pics!
Nice! Good to know! This is my summer project – my first time dyeing. I’ve almost got all the equipment and tools together :)
We followed your instructions and dyed some beautiful gradient. There’s a picture of the hat Curls made using the yarn at our blog.
tried this with much less variation in color. Same quantities and all. Do you start with cold water? And does alpaca dye differently than sheep wool?
Thanks for the super easy explanation. I regularly use Jacquard dyes to dye wool and will try your way with Jacquard dye to get gradient results. Love what you did with the different shades of wool you dyed. That hat is awesome.