Kool Aid

Here is the finished result of my first kool aid dyeing experiment. The first dyed skein and the last white one before getting splashed.

Here is a shot of each skein with their colours applied and the resulting BRIGHT strawberry and grape with lots of white still showing. I wasn't happy with this so I gave it an overdye with more grape.

Read on if you like for details of my made up process.
These photos show a few of the steps Beginning at the top left and moving clockwise it shows:
1) The dyes all lined up ready to go with extra kids medicine syringes as applicators and the pristine skein all soaked and coiled in my pyrex dish waiting for the onslaught.
2) All the colours applied ready to go in the microwave.
3) The same skein after overdying with more grape.
4) Three finished skeins.

Here is a close up of the colours across the three skeins. I managed to replicate the colour across all three pretty well.

Method:

I mixed up three packets of koolaid. One Strawberry, One Grape and one Rasberry (drink aid nor kool aid). I mixed up each colour in 1/4 cup of warm water. While I did this I soaked my skein for 30 mins in warm water and squeezed it out. I didnt use any vinegar because some sites say you don't need it with kool aid and I couldn't find it at the time. I coiled the skein back into the glass casserole dish and started squirting colour onto it and into it using the kids panadol syringes, occasionally pushing down with my (gloved) fingers to make it go through to the bottom. A glass dish was handy to see the bottom colours. When I was happy with it I put the lid on the dish and zapped it in the microwave on 3/4 power for 2 mins, rested it for 2 mins, then zapped it again on high for two mins. (FYI My microwave is 1200 watts) When it was cool to touch I rinsed it through.

I wasnt happy with it when it first came out. It was way too bright with lots of white showing so I decided to overdye it with the grape. I mixed up the casserole dish with another packet of non kool aid grape (drink aid I think) and the 1cm of kool aide solution that was left then dunked the skein into it for about two minutes or less. That's how long it took to even out the colours and tone down the strawberry. Then I squeezed it out gently and did the microwave thing again. 2mins on 3/4 power, then 2 mins rest, then 2 mins on high. Cool to touch then rinse and spin and dry. Voila!!