Easter Egg Dye
Klass Drink Mix
Kool-Aid
Kool-Aid Formulas
McCormick Formulas
Wilton Food Color
Videos
Overdye
Fashion Colors
Base Yarns
Red Food Color
Black Food Color
Blue Hints
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Hints & Experiments
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Dyeing Nylon
Vinegar

How To Dye Wool Yarn
With Kool-Aid® and Wilton® Food Colors

You don't need to be DaVinci or a Rocket Scientist to dye wool yarn in yummy, vibrant, custom colors - with inexpensive products that are safe enough to eat.

A lack of cuddly, toasty wool yarn isn't the problem. Finding a full palette of colors is the problem. How come embroiderers get sixty-zillion hues of floss but knitters get stuck with thirty colors?

To spin a common phrase: give a knitter a skein and she will knit for a day. Teach her to dye wool yarn and she will dye every hank in sight. MMwwwhhaaa! Soon, no orphaned skein in the LYS, no scrap in the stash, no wool sweater in the thrift store will be safe.

If you can follow the directions on a cake box....you can dye wool yarn. Using ingredients found in the baking section of large grocery stores (plus white vinegar, which is a few aisles over).

My kids love Kool-Aid® dyeing - it's that easy! My nine year old won a Best of Show ribbon at the County Fair for her hand dyed wool fleece - great results are that easy.

NEW VIDEO!

Use Kool-Aid To
Make Self-Striping Yarn

Short video and step-by-step written directions.


Video - How to Break Black Wilton Food Color

Start with black. End up with a rainbow.


2012 Color of the Year

Want Tangerine Tango? Dye Tangerine Tango Yourself

Got too much? Overdye Orange Yarn


A Kool-Aid video!

Video, Photos and Formulas for 135 Colors!



Color recipes

While I'm not a rocket scientist, I am a mad scientist. Add a 1/4 teaspoon of this color, a few drops of that...and Zowie! an Ultra-cool color! Luckily for my friends, I write the formulas down.


Kool-Aid® Wilton® McCormick® Klass®

  • Use a single color or go hog wild and mix a few
  • Non-toxic
  • Easy to find at the grocery, Big Box craft or party supply store

You can find scattered websites on Kool-Aid® dyeing. On this site we jump ahead of the curve and learn about Wilton®, McCormick® and Klass® too. And the secrets of mixing brands.


Works with any wool or wool blend yarn

  • Plus any rabbit, goat, llama, alpaca or other animal hair
  • Create custom colors on your favorite brand of wool yarn. Any yarn weight for knitting, crochet, and felting. You can even food color dye tops and roving for spinning and needle felting.

  • Revitalize your secret stash of "ugly" yarn. Guilty over that little bag hiding in the bottom of your closet? A trip in the dye pot and you might wish you had bought more "ugly" yarn.
  • A simple test for wool content in unknown yarn.


Save Money

  • Mini-hanks (small amounts of dozens of colors) for colorwork, stripes and FairIsle
  • Luscious multi-hues, just like the indie dyers
  • Turn closeout yarn into your favorite shades.
  • Score cheap sweaters at the thrift store to frog and food color dye. Everyone else buying tank-tops? Hit the sweater rack (don't forget the men's section).

My favorite part ....you can dye wool yarn on the cheap!

'Cause I am cheeeeeeaaap! How cheap? When I found three nice cashmere/wool blend sweaters at the thrift store for $1.49 each, I hesitated. Because a little voice said "but next week is St. B's sale and their sweaters are 50 cents each." (I did bring those sweaters home, along with two leaf bags full of knitted goods from St. B's.)


Hints



Easter Egg Dye Color - Charts and Hints
Color charts of Easter egg dye. Photos and formulas on wool yarn. Instructions and hints.

Klass™ Drink Mix Used to Dye Wool Yarn
Photos comparing Klass™ and Kool-aid™ dyed yarn. Expand your palette of luscious oranges and reds. Hints on using Klass™ drink mix.

Kool-Aid Dyeing is Easy and Fun
Every thing you need for Kool-Aid dyeing (except the wool yarn) is in the packet. Instructons, photos and hints.

Kool-Aid Formulas and Photos for 135 Different Colors
Kool-Aid formulas to create 135 different colors. Photos of wool samples dyed with Kool-Aid. Find a shade you want and get the recipe.

McCormick Formulas and Photos
McCormick formulas to create 36 different colors. Photos of wool samples dyed with McCormick. Find a shade you want and get the recipe.

Wilton® Icing Food Colors Sets and Dyeing Hints
Pre-mixed Wilton® Colors make dyeing your wool yarn a snap. Photos of yarn and hints.

Videos about Dyeing Yarn with Food Color
You've never seen videos like these. Kool-Aid colors. Handpaint immersion tutorial. An interior decorator's trick to make different colors match better. Breaking black. And lots more coming.

Save That Ugly Yarn, Overdye It
Photos of pink, orange, gold and green wool yarn overdyed with Kool-Aid, McCormick, Wilton and Great Value food color.

Dye Hot Fashion Colors Yourself
Step-by-step directions to dye the latest Pantone fashion colors on wool yarn with food coloring.

Base Yarn for Food Color Dyeing - Links by Yarn Name
Confused about which base yarn to use with food color dyes? We test Lion, Caron, Bernat, Brown Sheep, Red Heart, Plymouth, Patons, Berroco and others.

Red Food Color for Dyeing Wool Yarn
Not enough variety in your stash of red wool yarn? Use red food color to make dozens of shades.

Which Black Food Color Should You Use to Dye Wool Yarn?
Should you use McCormick® drops or Wilton® black food color? Photos of dyed yarn and hints.

Blue Food Color Dyeing Wool Yarn
Which brand of blue food color to use to dye wool yarn. Why blue brakes or halos. Photos of yarn dyed with Wilton® and Kool-Aid®.

3 Wonderful Ways to Color Wool Yarn With Green Food Dye
Wonderful green food color dyed yarn - overdye yellow or blue wool yarn, mix your own green or straight out of the package.

Food Color Dyeing Hints and Experiments
Instructions and HInts on using food-dyes. Testing for wool content, trouble shooting, recycling, breaking colors, big no-no's and more.

Dyer's Notebook - Exploring Food Color Dyeing
The most current info on WHAT WORKS and WHY in the world of dyeing yarn with food color.

Useful Resources For Anyone Who Uses Yarn
Links to information that can make your knitting easier, better and more fun. Color mixers, stitch encyclopedia, free patterns, online tools and more.

Some Books I Like
A selection of books I've found helpful. And a way to support this website without spending any more money.

Links to Some Stuff I Use on the Website
Here's where to get some of the stuff I used to make the yarn that went into this website.

Contact Us
Send us your questions, comments, suggestions about dyeing with food color.

How to Dye Nylon with Food Color
Dyeing nylon yarn and nylon tights with food color like Kool-Aid, Wilton, McCormick and Easter Egg Dye. Photos and instructions.

The Lowdown on Vinegar
When should you add vinegar to food color when dyeing? Can you reuse vinegar? Photos and advice.


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Recycled sweater yarn dyed with Wilton food color


Pastel wool mini-hanks dyed with Wilton food color


Loom knit hat from food color dyed wool yarn


kool-aid dyed roving for needle felting


food color dyed wool yarn drying in the shade