Dying the LB Fisherman's Wool

Instructions

Wool is a protein yarn (hair off of a sheep). Because of it being a protein yarn, it will accept acid dyes like those found in many food products like Kool-Aid and Wilton cake dyes. And the advantage of using food grade dyes, you do not have to have special pots and pans specifically for dyeing yarn. Because they are safe to eat, you can use your soup pots, measuring cups, stirring spoons and a colander without worry in this project.
The first step is to pick out the approximate color you would like to die. There are many websites that describe how to kool-Aid dye your yarn and several of them have color cards showing the approximate colors that each of the Kool-Aid packets do. Use Google to find those as I don't remember them off the top of my head! (remember reds are very very difficult to set and rinse out completely!!) but purples and
oranges and other secondary and tertiary colors that include red are fine usually.
I've attached pictures of my Kool-Aid you are that I've died with using great and I hope you enjoy the pictures! If you are more interested in finding out how I use Kool-Aid to dye my yarn you can either Google "kool-Aid microwave dying" or you can email me at
familyjules@gmail.com for more information. :D Wool is a protein yarn (hair off of a sheep). Because of it being a protein yarn, it will accept acid dyes like those found in many food products like Kool-Aid and Wilton cake dyes. And the advantage of using food grade dyes, you do not have to have special pots and pans specifically for dyeing yarn. Because they are safe to eat, you can use your soup pots, measuring cups, stirring spoons and a ...
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Difficulty:

Category: Knitting

Type of item: Clothing

For: Women

Style: Whimsical, Cute, Casual, Funky

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Materials

Yarn enough + excess for errors and trials, A box or other sturdy container the is a yard Koolaid, Wilton's cake dyes, etc, two large cooking pots, collider, hangers, rope, LOTS OF white vinegar, kitchen timer, measuring cups, paper, calculator.

What was your inspiration?

I started knitting for my youngest son who is now 4. I made him wool diaper covers to cover his cloth diapers, because they actually work a whole lot better than plastic AND they are better for the skin. But I got bored just knitting in one color, and found out you could dye with food grade dyes and vinegar on the Wool, which makes it safe to do in your cooking pots!
These skeins are leftovers from when I was knitting for him. So I only had to buy the Vinegar (I used up almost 3 gal of vinegar on this!) and almost 50 packages of kool-aid.
OH, and don't worry. the colors are permanent.

What are you most proud of?

The accidental variegation. Knitting in one color is all well and good, but knitting in a variegated color yarn is that much more fun AND much more easier to count rows and stitches!

NOTE: Next time, I need to wear gloves. my fingers are a bit on the purple side from when I was mixing the dye! HAHAHA.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Do SMALL trials first - 5 yard pieces of yarn first. And keep trying. I did 10 different sample runs before I found the right amount (for me!) of kool-aid in the pot for this project.