KOOL AID YARN

Kool aid yarn is a great project for you and your child. Or you just may want to do it yourself. It's safe and easy. Alpaca fleece works great for coloring with kool aid.

We made kool aid yarn with a group of homeschool children that we were teaching to spin and weave. It was a fun class.

First, the kids learned to use kool aid to dye wool. Then they used a drop spindle that they made themselves to spin their dyed wool into yarn. Lastly, they learned to weave the yarn using a cardboard loom. It's a great way to teach children about dyeing, spinning, and weaving.

To color the yarn, we used baggies and the microwave, along with kool aid. We had several different flavors of kool aid. The unsweetened kind. The darker colors of red, blue, and purple made really pretty colors.

To make kool aid yarn, use white or light colored wool. Put the alpaca fiber into a baggie and add water to soak the wool.

Once the alpaca wool is wet, sprinkle kool aid over the wool. You can use one color or mix colors. Don't breath the powders, it's not good for your lungs.

Seal the baggie and mush it with your hand to dissolve the kool aid. Place the baggie in the microwave. Set the microwave for 2 minutes, but watch it closely. When you see steam collecting in the baggie or the baggie bulges, press STOP. Let it rest for a minute and then heat again. You'll know you are done when your water looks clear and your yarn is colored.

If you have small children, then you can put the baggie in sunlight instead of using a microwave. Let is sit several hours or all day. This method is safer for small children.

Let the yarn cool and then rinse the yarn in cool water. Hang to dry. Once dry, it's ready to spin into yarn.

That's how we made kool aid yarn. The children had lots of fun and so did we! You can make yarn or use the dyed fiber for felting. This is a great way to get children involved with your alpacas.

Return from kool aid yarn to alpaca yarn. Return from kool aid yarn ot owning alpaca home page.