Experimentation

Dyeing Experiment #1 - Black Cherry
Supplies: 1 Hank of Knit Picks Bare (100 grams, 75% superwash, 25% Nylon), 4 packets of Black Cherry Kool-Aid, Distilled White Vinegar, Slow Cooker
For this method I loosely followed the directions for a hot pour dye. This is where you pour the dye directly over the yarn in the spots that you want.

1. I put the yarn in a bowl filled with hot water and 1 cup of white vinegar.
2. While the yarn was soaking, I filled my 6 qt slow cooker half full with water and 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and started heating it up.
3. Mixed 1 cup of hot water with 1 packet of Black Cherry Kool-aid - for a total of 4 packets
4. Took the yarn out of the bowl, squeezed out excess water, and put in the slow cooker.
5. Then I poured the Kool-aid mixture over 4 different spots in the slow cooker.
6. Waited until the slow cooker heated up to 150 degrees then checked the water. It was clear, so I think all of the dye had been soaked up by the yarn.
7. Took the yarn out of the slow cooker and rinsed under hot water until it seemed to be rinsed.
8. Let the yarn dry overnight.
9. The next day, washed in a sinkful of cool water with a capful of SOAK.

I really like how the yarn came out, with the spots of white. I definitely liked the smell of it after I washed it the next day. Kool-aid and vinegar just smell funky together. I can't wait to swatch it up and see what it looks like knitted. My son was watching me during this process and decided he wanted to help me color some yarn too. So I decided to try the next technique I had read about.
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Dyeing Experiment #2 - Cherry
Supplies: 1 Hank of Knit Picks Bare (100 grams, 75% superwash, 25% Nylon), 8 packets of Cherry Kool-Aid, Slow Cooker
For this yarn I followed a generic dyeing method of just placing the yarn in a pot filled with dye and heating to set.

1. I put the yarn in a bowl filled with hot water.
2. While the yarn was soaking, I filled my 6 qt slow cooker half full with water and started heating it up.
3. Mixed 1 cup of hot water with 1 packet of Cherry Kool-aid - for a total of 4 packets and poured into the slow cooker and mixed thoroughly.
4. Took the yarn out of the bowl, squeezed out excess water, and put in the slow cooker.
5. Waited until the slow cooker heated up to 170 degrees then checked the water. It was clear, so I think all of the dye had been soaked up by the yarn. (This one got a little more cooking time, as I was doing the bedtime routine for the boys.)
6. Took the yarn out of the slow cooker and rinsed under hot water until it seemed to be rinsed.
7. Let the yarn dry overnight.
8. The next day, washed in a sink-ful of cool water with a cap-ful of SOAK.

I repeated this procedure twice, each with 4 packets of Kool-Aid. I think next time I'll just put all 8 in at once. The first time it came out it still had a few pale spots and wasn't very solid. Now, this is a very, very bright cherry yarn. I always like a little *bling* so I'm hoping that I'll find a suitable sock pattern for this.

This is what they look like side-by-side. Black Cherry and Cherry. It was really fun trying this with my son and I would love to be able to get some great color combinations going. I'm not to sure about using the acid dyes with the young-uns around. So I'll have to stick with Kool-Aid for now.