dying wool soakers

[e_roehm23]

Anybody tried this? I have some Aristocrats wool soakers that I bought second hand and they have horrible poop stains on the inside, so I was thinking about dying them. I don't know if wool will take the dye. If not, oh well, stains don't really bother me

[mston]

KoolAid!

So I've only dyed skeins of wool with Koolaid, and I'm imagining the cover would be denser, and require more powder.
I got some neat colours by mixing two different flavour packages. I liked dyeing with KA because it was relatively simple, and foodsafe (meaning I didn't have to worry about poisonous mordants, separate containers for dyeing vs food). It was sort of revolting to imagine my childhood birthday-party intestines painted such dayglo colours though.
Another issues was the smell....the wool smelled very artificial and candy-like. I found it did fade substantially after the first few days...
Anyways, heres a good tutorial at knitty, and I'm sure there's tons on youtube.
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

[Chamomile Girl]

You can get great vibrant colors on wool using acid dyes. It requires using very hot water though, so you have to be careful not to agitate the fabric too much to avoid felting (are Aristrcrats already felted? I'm not sure). But the colors you get are really amazing, and the only mordant you need is vinegar.

[cristeen]

The cheapest way to do it is definitely Kool Aid or even plain old food coliring if you have it in the house. It really should be heat set or it can fade and bleed onto dipes and furniture.

I just use a big jar inside a soup pot w a rack in the bottom. Easy cleanup.

I would recommend avoiding reds though, stick w other colors. Reds are notorious for bleeding even when properly set.

[jillybeans]

I dyed my aristocrat years ago with koolaid (turquoise) It's gone through three kiddos (that's a LOT of washes lol) and it's still going strong color-wise.

[e_roehm23]

Hey thanks everyone!  I think I might give this a shot!  Maybe even tie-dying???  

[Jeanne1]

Here are some instructions, be careful when you add the vinegar on the stove, it will boil over if you have too much in the pot