Dye Yarn with Kool Aid (Fun for kids, too!)

Learn how to dye your own beautiful yarns with simple drink powders such as Kool Aid

You may be wondering why you would want to dye yarn with Kool Aid. Well, there are lots of reasons!

If you are a brand new beginning yarn dyer, instead of buying a bunch of professional acid dyes, you can test the waters with inexpensive Kool Aid. That way you see if you even like dyeing yarn.

Also, since professional dyes (such as Jacquard) contain toxic chemicals, you need a separate set of pots, pans and other kitchen ware that is used for dyeing only. Those items will no longer be safe for food prep.

Additionally, yarn dyeing is also a great kids craft project! Kids love dyeing yarn and if you use Kool Aid, you don’t have to worry about exposing them to potential toxins.

What’s more, it is a lot quicker and easier than dragging out all the special equipment.

If you are in the mood to dye some pretty yarns, just grab a few different packets of Kool Aid colors and you are good to go. Finally, Kool Aid is fairly color fast so it’s a win-win.

Can you dye cotton yarn with Kool Aid?

Since Kool Aid dyes are basically an acid dye (citric acid), they do not really work on plant fibers such as cotton and linen. You would need to use a fiber reactive dye, tie dyes or Rit dyes.

Can you dye acrylic yarn with Kool Aid?

In a word, no you cannot dye acrylic yarn with Kool Aid. Acrylic or other synthetic fiber yarns are basically made of a type of plastic so you would need to use a dye specifically for synthetic yarn such as Rit Dyemore.

*** Make sure the yarn you are dyeing is a protein fiber. Protein fiber means animal fiber such as sheep wool, alpaca, silk, etc.)

Yarn Dyeing Steps:

Soaking the Yarn

The first thing you need to do is soak your skein of yarn in very warm water. Some tutorials call for adding white vinegar to the water but since Kool Aid dye powder is made with citric acid, I have not found this step necessary.

All you have to do is add warm water to the casserole dish and carefully push your yarn down into the water.

Be careful not to move your yarn around too much as that can cause felting.

Let your yarn soak for about 30 minutes. Now, gently remove your yarn, empty the dish and squeeze the extra water from the yarn.

According to Marly Bird, you should always add your yarn to the water and “do not add your yarn first and then put water on top of it.” This is to prevent the wool from felting.

Mixing the Kool Aid Dyes

While your yarn is soaking, you can go ahead and prepare your Kool Aid dyes.

Do this by mixing one packet of Kool Aid with one cup of water, do not add sugar. For this skein, I used Mixed Berry (blue), Cherry, Orange and Grape flavors.

Applying the Dyes

Carefully, place the yarn back in your casserole dish. Using a chopstick or spoon, spread out the yarn to cover the whole dish.

Pick a color and slowly pour the dissolved Kool Aid over a part of your yarn. Use chopsticks or a spoon to gently move the yarn a bit to let the color reach the bottom.

Repeat with the other colors.

Note: Take a moment to think about your Kool Aid colors and how they might blend together. Remember the color wheel? Yellow and blue makes green. Red and blue makes purple, Red and yellow makes orange.

Some colors mixed together, however, will make a muddy brown so just keep that in mind.

Setting the Dye

Once all of the color has been applied to the yarn, it is time to “set” the dyes so that they don’t wash out.

Using a microwave:
Cover your casserole dish with plastic wrap and then microwave on “High” in one minute intervals until the water in the dish is clear.

At this point, the Kool Aid dye has been fully absorbed by the yarn. Remove it from the microwave and allow it to cool completely.

Using an oven:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and then place the casserole dish on the middle rack. Heat for about 10 minutes and then check to see if the water in the dish is clear.

If it is, you can remove the dish and allow it to cool. If not, heat for another 10 minutes.

Finishing the yarn

Once the yarn has cooled completely, carefully remove it from the casserole and rinse in room temperature water. Finally, just hang the yarn to dry. Your Kool Aid dyed yarn is now ready to use!

This yarn is perfect for any knitting or crochet pattern from hats, scarves and mittens to shawls and wraps.

For larger projects, I recommend you dye all of the skeins of yarn at the same time. This way you can be sure the colors will be consistent.

And that is all there is to it! One thing I have found is that the yarn sucks up the Kool Aid dye very quickly so keep an eye on your microwave or oven.

Also, if you don’t want any white areas, simply use more dye packets.

Finally, Lemonade Kool Aid (yellow) has very little dye in it. If you want yellow, either use lots of packets or substitute yellow food dye. Watermelon Kiwi has NO color in it.

If you give dyeing yarn with Kool Aid a try, please post a picture of your yarn in the comments below. I love to see the fun colorways you guys come up with!
Enjoy,
Annette

Can you use food coloring to dye yarn?

Yes and no. Basically it depends on the fiber makeup of your yarn. You can dye protein or wool yarn with food coloring the same way you dyed your yarn with Kool Aid.

Plant fibered yarn (s.a. cotton or linen) will not take a dye made with food coloring.

Dye Yarn with Kool Aid