Friday, February 12, 2010

How fun - Kool-Aid dyeing!

I have been reading about Kool-Aid dyeing and really had been wanting to give it a try.  I love to fabric dye so I just had to do this, of course.

First I found the roving that Angie & I bought at the Sewing Expo two year ago.  I have some I bought from Nancy at the Spinnery but just not ready to use it.  I figured if I messed this up, I could always felt it.

I used blue Kool-Aid (which has been discontinued), 1/2 cup white vinegar and an old dawn detergent bottle.
Washed the roving in hot water first with detergent, rinsed next.  Squeezed it, laid it out on saran wrap.  Mixed the vinegar with Kool-aid and put it in the bottle.  (A turkey baster would be better but I worked with what I had)
Squirt it up and down the roving, leaving some cream.   Fold the saran wrap and rolled it up.  I put it in a glass pie plate and nuked it in the microwave.  I had read to do it for a minute but after 30 second I heard it pop and knew it was getting to hot, so I did it for 30 sec then rested it for 4 minutes - did this for about 5 times.
Let it cool to room temp, then rinsed it in room temp water.  First rinse showed that all the Kool-aid had been taken up into the roving.  Hung it to dry.
It is so pretty - I love the cream showing thru the blue so I called it Blueberries & Cream.  I pulled it into long pieces and rolled it into a ball so I can spin it.

Now I am ready to do the really good roving that I bought in Gatlinburg!!!

2 comments:

magnoliasntea said...

Wow, way to go! Your dyeing experiment turned out great! I have to admit I never thought it would be fun to dye yarn or roving, but recently I had to do some dyeing for lack of finding the right colors in the store, and I loved it!

Mary said...

I love dyeing fabric so I knew I would love dyeing roving. I just have to knit more so I will get faster and can dye and spin more! Oh, the madness!