O yeah, it's Kool-Aid man!

Over the weekend I dyed about 1 pound of shetland wool, 9 oz. of creamy white wool, 7 oz. of gray wool that I purchased at Kiddin' A-Round Spinning & Weaving store in Clinton, Mo. This isn't my first time dying fiber but it was the first time that I was able to achieve two things: 1) dark colors and 2) fiber not felting (this part of dying fiber process is a wonderful thing to happen).

The first time I dyed fiber I used kool-aid, vinegar and the microwave. The resulting fiber was bright colors, some felting of the wool and pretty much stunk up the house. It was eventually spun up into sport/dk weight yarn by my friend Carey.
It's still waiting to be turned into something, I do have plans for it someday. The next dye project was wool that I purchased from the fiber shop in Clinton, Mo. but I did different method of dying the wool. I used food coloring and vinegar but instead of the microwave I used the stove. I purchased a big stock pot and steamed the fiber which I found nothing easy about this method. I still had a stinky house and lots of water to throw out when done. Plus the colors were totally off and the fiber felted pretty bad on me. Although the colors turned out wrong it was still a pretty shade of pastels greens, yellow and oranges even though I was going for a dark hunter green color. I made a two ply yarn out of it and eventually turned it into a hat that looks like a big gum drop.

I read somewhere on the internet about using your oven to do fiber dying with. I figured why not use my grill and keep the smell outside. My set up was the same as before, I first soaked the fiber in the stock pot filled with water & vinegar. I let the wool soak for about 2 hours and then drained the water off.
Then I used disposable aluminum pans to hold the wet fiber in, applied kool-aid (Cherry, Grape and Raspberry flavors) to the white wool and green, blue and red food coloring to the gray wool.
Normally I would be wearing gloves to squish all the liquid into the fiber but I couldn't find them. I tried using the kitchen tongs but it didn't seem to work out too well in getting the liquid into the fiber so I reached in and used my hands. Comet cleaner not only cleans the counters but can take off the kool aid stains off hands really well which is a good thing cause I really didn't want to have to explain to my co-workers why my hands were purple & red and no my perfume doesn't smell like Kool-Aid. Once I covered the fiber with dye, I cover each pan with aluminum foil and took it out to our gas grill to steam. I allowed the heat to build up gradually and about 30 minutes later at 275 degrees, I removed the foil to check the progress. The water came out clear so that was an indication that all the dye I use the fiber had taken in. I turned off the heat and allowed the wool to gradually cool off before bringing it back inside to rinse off.
I can't wait to spin this stuff up and see how it looks. Best part of all with dying fiber using the grill is that I didn't get any felting or a stinky house. Plus, I do believe shetland wool is just awesome. It's incredibly soft and wonderful to spin with.

I also try to do some Tencel fiber dying last night and used the oven. Tencel is a synthetic fiber that looks and feels like silk. I applied the same technique as I did in using the grill with the only exception of longer cooking time. From what I could tell from last night was it took the dye but isn't coming out as dark as I wanted. This fiber has a sheen look to it, so the colors that were coming out had a metallic look to it. Once I removed it from the oven I kept it covered and left it to cool overnight. Tonight when I get home from work, I'll get to see what color it decided to be. Pictures to come tomorrow, good or bad, I'll show it off.