When I was growing up, my siblings and I weren't allowed to drink soda - soda was for grown ups. We drank water or milk. And occasionally kool-aid.
KOOL-AID! I LOVE KOOL-AID!
Delicious flavors!
Awesomely creative names!
Beautifully vivid colors!
Copious amounts of sugar!
What's NOT to love?!?
Now that I'm a grown up, Mountain Dew is my drink of choice! Just hook me up to an IV of Mountain Dew and let it drip all day long!
Although I do still love kool-aid.
And there's another reason to love kool-aid... you can use kool-aid to dye fabrics and yarns. Who knew?
And there's another reason to love kool-aid... you can use kool-aid to dye fabrics and yarns. Who knew?
Well, I guess most parents, including my parents, already knew that kool-aid stains. That's why we weren't allowed to drink our kool-aid in the carpeted living room, sitting on the couch. hmmmmmm........go figure!
Well, Sarah knitted some scarves using wool yarn with the sole purpose of experimenting with kool-aid dying.
Aren"t they pretty??
We checked out several websites about kool-aid dying. We evaluated all the info and then did our own thing. (good thing we did that research, huh?)
We found there are two choices to "set the color" - using heat or using a mordant (an acid to secure the color). We thought we would go ahead and use heat AND use vinegar as our acid. Better safe than sorry.
I like to think I am mostly on top of things. I have my act together.
My delusion was completely shattered when we got the vinegar from the pantry...
Yes, the date on the vinegar bottle is August 6, 1999. I am going with that as the date it was bottled and NOT the expiration date. Although, with that as the bottle date, I'm pretty sure the expiration date is long gone!
But, really, does vinegar go bad? I'm not sure if it smells bad. It smells very vinegar-y. Doesn't vinegar always smell bad?
We decided since we weren't going to drink the kool-aid, it would be fine to use.
Anyway, who really uses vinegar? The only reasons I can think of to use vinegar is to make pickles (we just buy them) or to dye Easter eggs (we don't eat hard boiled eggs so we don't dye eggs - we prefer the plastic eggs filled with candy).
Anyway, who really uses vinegar? The only reasons I can think of to use vinegar is to make pickles (we just buy them) or to dye Easter eggs (we don't eat hard boiled eggs so we don't dye eggs - we prefer the plastic eggs filled with candy).
So, yeah, I guess I am really NOT on top of things.
The vinegar is not from THIS decade.
It's not even from LAST decade.
or even THIS MILLENNIUM!
It's from the 1990s.
Really? ... Well, we are using it anyway.
It's not even from LAST decade.
or even THIS MILLENNIUM!
It's from the 1990s.
Really? ... Well, we are using it anyway.
So, Sarah chose from the kool-aid flavors/colors that we had on hand.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that some of the kool-aid packets from my pantry had the collectible kool-aid points on them. Remember those? Again, I am so NOT of top of things! What year did they stop putting the points on those packets anyway? ... Please don't judge me!
Having disclosed that information about me and my household there is no need to worry if you've eaten at my house or plan to in the future.........don't worry. The items that we consume regularly, are used in a timely manner (obviously not vinegar or kool-aid though). I save all the expired food items for the household residents. :-)
So... Back to the kool-aid dying -
We decided to use a jar for each scarf / color. We put in the kool-aid powder (no sugar necessary, after all, we aren't going to drink it), vinegar, and enough water to completely cover the scarf.
We started out measuring the vinegar / kool-aid / water ratio very carefully. After all, this was an experiment - you know, like science. We quickly moved on to the "Rachael Ray" way to measure (which is really not measuring at all - a splash of this - a splash of that).
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| Kool-Aid powder - NO sugar! |
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| Vinegar |
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| Measured carefully! |
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| Mix together.... |
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| Will the scarf fit into the jar? |
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| It fits!! |
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| we added water to cover the scarf. |
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| Blue and Orange |
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| Red |
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| Sarah! Don't Drink the Kool-Aid! |
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| What do you mean? Don't Drink the Kool-Aid?? What? Is that a movie quote?? |
We then placed the jars into a pan of water on the stove.
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| We had to use a second pan. |
We heated the water until the liquid in each jar was clear. It was like magic! The scarves absorbed the color and the remaining liquid was clear. The websites we researched said this would happen, but I didn't believe it until I actually saw it with my own eyes.
We rinsed out the scarves and then hung them up to dry.
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| Of course, we hung them in the bathroom. Where else would you hang them?? |
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| How did Sarah get in the picture? |
And this is what they look like after the kool-aid!
We had fun playing with the Kool-aid!
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