It looks appetising, doesn't it?
When I started my foray into fibrecraft I swore blind that I would never touch Kool-Aid as a dye. It stands for everything that I dislike about the world, and yet somehow I found myself inexorably drawn in. I found that I could buy it from a sweet shop in London (for a small fortune) and I suddenly had to have one of every flavour (for scientific experimental purposes of course). Everywhere I looked online people were dyeing with Kool-Aid and while that would not normally entice me to try something out, there was something seductive about it.
I had a huge skein of nasty, sheepy-smelling yarn that was just begging to be dyed with this stuff, so I gave it a go. If nothing else then the fruit smell would mask the musky sheepiness of the wool. While I was mixing up wineglasses full of Kool-Aid I chatted with my housemate about how Kool-Aid was used as the drink of choice in the Jonestown Massacre. This was all very interesting, but I think even he was freaked out when I found myself humming "Don't Fear the Reaper" as I splished and splashed the colourful liquid onto the yarn. He sidled out to leave me to my dyeing. I reflected that it's not often you can freak out a voodoo priest.
Well, I wrapped the stuff up in clingfilm and nuked it, and I have to say that the smell didn't improve at all, but the dye really stuck. It stuck so well in fact that there were white areas where no dye penetrated at all, and the liquid that ran out into the bottom of the dish was clear. Clean up was easy too (although I did have to make sure that I got rid of all traces of the Kool-Aid laced wineglasses, lest my housemate think I was trying to poison him).
And here she is. Not bad for a first attempt, but I think I'll overdye it with some Tamarindo/Grape flavour or something to mute it down a bit since it is quite loud. I thought it was going to be quite seaweedy but Yemaya has said she doesn't want it - maybe I should take that as a sign. I'm not quite ready to drink the Kool-Aid.
