Sun Yarn

After experimenting with dyeing in my crockpot, I decided to try dyeing using Kool Aid in the sun, inspired by a thread in Ravelry's A Kool Way to Dye group.

This is what I came up with:



A couple of my friends asked for me to write out the instructions for this mottled sun yarn, so here it is for future use.

I supersaturated Kool Aid in lemon lime and blue raspberry ice in boiling water, 2 packets of each in separate pots. After it cooled somewhat, I poured it into an ice cube tray and let them freeze into super colored dye cubes overnight.

The next day (forecast to be 100F+, though I've heard it's possible to do this at a much lower temp) I filled a dark casserole dish halfway with clear water and my 4oz. of yarn, just covering the yarn in the pot, then let it sit for an hour in the sun until very warm. I then randomly placed dye ice cubes on the yarn. This created the brightest spots of green and blue. I left the yarn in the sun for the rest of the afternoon to be sure it set.

There were still large amounts of white left after the ice cube treatment, so the next afternoon I mixed another 2 packets of lemon lime and replaced the water in the casserole with the newly mixed Kool Aid solution. I again left the yarn in the dye for the afternoon in the sun.

When I removed and washed the yarn, I was left with this lovely mottled effect. I'd love to try it again with more dye cube colors!