To Dye for (Kool-Aid and Jell-O)
I bought kool-aid and Jell-O in an American shop last year, but haven’t come around to use it until this week!
In my first search I found good information in Swedish from stickat och virkat. Useful! Knitty has also written about dying with soft drinks: dyed in the wool. I also took the time to read about how to dye with Jello-O, a sugar free low calorie gelatin dessert that you also can dye yarn with! I wouldn’t eat it for the world, but I had to try this out! Also found this interesting with the microwave tips and also a good colour chart!
I have lots and lots of thick white yarn that I bought at Tradera also last year, and that is taking up space in my closet. It’s J?rbo wool yarn, great for knitting mittens and hats for the cold winter that we have around here.
I started out with Jell-O, I had two colours of that; green and red, but they went kind of thick fast and was hard to paint with, and the colours came out pale and boring. If pastel is what you want, maybe… but nah, just one skein (that I probably won’t use).
Two cherry and one orange made the whole kitchen smell like a plastic fruit basket!
I painted the skein with a spoon full of water and soft drink from my mixing jars. I coloured in two skeins but only three bags of Kool-Aid couldn’t cover the whole thing so there are some white spots. But I don’t mind that, I really like the orange-yellow look of these two:
I hesitated long before starting this project, but it was really exciting and simple! I had so much fun that I spilled coloured water on the cat and forgot to use gloves, but that’s okay since this just soft drink and nothing dangerous. I’m very pleased with the result, specially one of the three skeins. I hope I can do more colouring soon, I have a bag filled with the white yarn still!
yarn looks awsome. You should try the Jello! it is great.
I’ve never heard of that before, but it sounds a cool thing too try out.
Wow, interesting!! Love the last picture of the yarn..yummy!!
Your blog always makes me want to dabble in similar, fun projects.
cheers, LJ
Jello is so yummy! If you’d like some more, I could send you a bunch no problem!
the yarn looks great! if you need more kool-aid, i could send you all different colors!!!
I had big plans to try dyeing with Kool-Aid while on vacation, but here I am on the Big Island and can only find grape, strawberry, orange and “tropical”. I have had this frustration on the mainland but expected more choices here. Can I mix unsweetened Jello with Kool-Aid to get more colors and if so, does Jello have enough acid or do I need to add vinegar? Mahalo for a reply! Kristy
H?ftigt! Men jag h?ller med – det ?r ju skitl?skigt att man ?ter/dricker s?nt d?r…Vet du om det ?r tv?ttbart – allts? h?ller f?rgen?
H?rlig r?dorangef?rg iallafall. Jag kan se ett par sk?na vintervantar framf?r mig, som skulle pigga upp i m?rkret!
wow, your yarn turned out wonderful!!! love the orangey-yellow color combo!
Det ble nydelig farge p? garnet ditt! Virkelig flott!
I used to love drinking the Kool-Aid, but nowadays I?m not so much into artificial tasting drinks, hee, hee. So it?s great that this stuff can be used for other purposes than drinking. I love how the yarn turned out! So vibrant! I wonder if the German version of Jell-O can be used for dying… ah, and thanks for the links, as I may want to try dying yarn one day (for knitting a shawl or socks with).
I have never tried using Kool-Aid of Jello for dye, but have heard of others who did. I love the results you got with yours…..colors are so brilliant!
Thanks for stopping by my blog…….I love visitors!
send me your address…I have several packets of Koolaid that I am not using that I can give to you!
It’s amazing (and a bit weard) how soft drink can turn white yarn into something so beautiful … wonder if the coulours last with washing?!
Hey i love this idea but live in the uk and don’t know what other drinks are like Koolaid (any ideas). Also do you have to put anything else in with the drink so it does not run in the rain etc etc.
I never knew this could be done!! Im excited about trying it .