The Dye Pot

Pink Lemonade

This is the result of this weekend's experiment. We had discovered some old (and I do mean old!) packages of Crystal Light drink mix in the cupboard and Myria suggested I consider them as a possible dye. Hmm...interesting idea. As it happens, I had acquired a 4 oz skein of cream colored yarn last week at the mill shop that was just begging to be played with. So yesterday, I assembled my usual tools, the yarn and the drink mixes and...well...played!

Materials

Approximately 4 ounces light worsted weight wool (origin and exact fiber content, unknown)
Crystal Light drink mixes: 1 tub Ruby Red Grapefruit, 3 tubs Pink Lemonade
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Pink Lemonade

I washed this yarn in dish detergent and did not rinse before dyeing it. The dye was dissolved in about 3/4 cup of white vinegar and then water was added to the dye solution. This was poured carefully over the wet yarn in the crock pot. The pot was covered and turned to the low setting and the whole was allowed to work until the dye exhausted - about 2.5 hours. This one was fast!. I let the yarn cool in the crock and then washed it in shampoo/conditioner (Pantene, this time), rolled it up in a towel for maxumum moisture extraction and then hung it to dry.




This is interesting yarn. While it fellt like wool (or mostly wool) to my fingers, there was no information on the skein - no band, no fiber content - nothing but a hand written tag that said Polar Ice. So I subjected it to a burn test which told me it was substantially wool or at least animal fiber of some kind. I then proceeded with the dyeing where the rapid uptake of the color seemed to support this conclusion.

The yarn resembles twine in the way it is spun and has a lot of body. It isn't the least bit limp and would probably be excellent for cable or aran work. It isn't soft the way merino tends to be, but it isn't rough on the hands either - nice and firm. The swatch (below) is flexible but not drapey and was done over 15 stitches on size (US) 7 (4.5mm) needles.






Notes:

I had never used this particular product for dyeing before and probably won't on anything like a regular basis because it would be fairly expensive to do so. A cannister containing four tubs of powder (the amount I would use for 4 ounces of yarn) costs the equivalent of enough Kool-aid to dye 12 ounces of yarn. Unless I was after some unique effect (and I have no idea what that might be), I probably wouldn't bother.

As a dye, this stuff exhausted very quickly - faster than anything else I've used. I noted a slightly milky look to the dye bath when the color had all been absorbed into the yarn. I've read about this sometimes happening with Kool-aid, but have never actually observed it before.

The color is pleasing and, as seems to usually be the case, fast.

Posted by Robbyn on 07/24 at 11:44 AM