Kool-Aid Wool

About a month ago I decided to try my hand at dying wool. I really wanted to start finding plants on the farm to use to naturally dye my wool but I figured I better start with something a little simpler to see how well I would adapt to the idea. I read and heard a lot of people talking about dying wool with Kool-Aid, so I thought "Why Not'?

I used our East Friesian sheep wool.  Washed and dried but not carded.

This is my first wool batch. 

In a large pot with strawberry kool-aid mix and enough water to cover the wool, I heated it to a boil for just a couple of minutes and then sat it off the heat to cool completely, the water starts to clear more as it cools.  Once it has cooled, soak wool in a soapy bath and rinse wool until bath water is clear. Note: The boiling wool mixed with the tasty kool-aid doesn't smell up the kitchen too nicely!! :)

On the drying rack. Completely excited about this one and the way it turned out that I had to try a few more colors.

 

 Blueberry wool.

By the end of the night I had 4 different colors of wool and 4 very strange smells clashing together. Over all, I have to call this a success!  I'll definitely be trying this again soon, hopefully with some different colors.