The Easy Way to Dye Wool Yarn

It is surprisingly easy to dye wool yarn using only vinegar and kool-aid. The photo above is my 'before' picture of Lion Brand 100% wool yarn that I bought at the local Hobby Lobby. Here is what you need: a crockpot, a bowl, a salad spinner (not absolutely necessary, but comes in handy), white vinegar, and several packets of kool-aid in the color you want to use. And the process is:

1. Fill your bowl with enough water to cover your loosely wound skein of yarn.


2. Add 3/4 cup vinegar to the water, then add the yarn.


3. Let sit for 1 hour.


4. Fill your crockpot with enough water to cover your yarn.


5. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the crockpot.


6. Add the kool-aid packets to the crockpot (the more packets the darker the color) and stir well.


7. Move the yarn from the bowl into the crockpot.


8. Turn the crockpot on high, cover and wait until the crockpot water runs clear. (The yarn will eventually soak up all the dye from the kool-aid.) This may take a few hours.


9. Turn off the crockpot, uncover and let the water come to room temperature.


10. Rinse the yarn a few times with water.


11. If you have a salad spinner, spin the yarn a few times to get out excess water. Otherwise gently wring out the water and then wrap tightly in a bath towel to help dry it out.


12. Drap the yarn on a clothes hanger and hang it somewhere to air dry.

Voila! The picture below shows how some of the colors turned out. The kool-aid flavors used were lemonade, orange, grape, pink lemonade, lime, and berry blue.