How to dye wool scraps with Kool-aid

Pendleton Woolen Mills offers a variety of classes including felting, wool rug crocheting and quilting. The store also sells wool scraps, selvage and blanket headers that they charge by the pound. I went there a few weeks ago planning to make a picnic blanket out of leftover blanket headers when I noticed a majority of their fabric was all white. I talked to the lady who worked there about different dyeing techniques and she told me there were a ton of online resources on dyeing wool with Kool-aid.

After much research, I noticed that most of the websites/blogs showed how to dye yarn or felt, but didn't show how to dye larger pieces of wool. After cross checking multiple websites, I think I figured it out. 

You'll need:

Stainless steel bowl

Large stainless steal saucepan

About a yard of wool scrap 

9 - 15 Kool-aid packets (the best color chart is probably on Knitty)

Wooden spoon

1. Place a piece of wool in the stainless steel bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for 30-45 minutes.
   
2. After the wool has soaked, squeeze out any excess liquid and set it aside. 
3. Turn the stove on to high and pour the leftover water from the bowl into the saucepan. (If the wool is older and smells like moth balls, pour fresh hot tap water instead.)
4. Add packets of Kool-aid to the water and stir with wooden spoon. *Note - the color of the water will be about the same color as the wool so adjust as needed.
   
5. Once the Kool-aid water is the desired color, place the wool scrap in saucepan. 
6. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Make sure to stir gently to avoid damaging the wool (it can felt easily in this temperature). 
7. When it's done, the saucepan should either be clear or milky depending on the Kool-aid flavor.
   
8. Turn the stove off and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. 
9. Rinse the wool in the same temperature as the water it's sitting in (you don't want it to felt!) gently squeezing out excess water. 
10. You can either at this point wash on a delicate cycle or roll it with a towel then hang dry.
11. You're done!
    

Color recipe for the pieces above:

Pink: Strawberry Kiwi - 11 packets (I'd probably add a few more)
White: original wool color
Blue: Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade - 9 packets, Lemonade - 3 packets (I'd probably add a few more of each)
Yellow: Peach Mango - 6 packets, Lemonade 3 packets

Since this was my first time to do this, the colors weren't completely even and I could have probably added more to the Strawberry Kiwi color, but nevertheless, it's a fun project and the smell was quite nostalgic.