dying for some man-o-mango-berry...

This is my favorite flavor of Kool-Aid. Ever. But sadly, it was only available for a limited time, and that was a while back. I happened upon some at a $1 Store (for something like, 10 packs for $1), and bought a ton of it. I still have some left, but of course, it's not quite the same after many years. The other day I thought I would try something else with it, in an effort to preserve at least the memory of this oh so yummy beverage.

Dying with Kool-Aid is something that I've heard of, but most people will tell you that it only works on protein fibers. But why not try it on cotton? As my mom reminded me, if you spill red Kool-Aid on your shirt, it's gonna stay there for a while.



So I pulled out some skeins of white embroidery floss (and pearl cotton). At this point, the photos start getting a little rough. The downside of cloudy days and working in my kitchen. Forgive me...



I mixed one packet of Kool-Aid with two cups of very hot water. Once it was as dissolved as it was gonna get (remember...this is old Kool-Aid), I added some white vinegar to help set it. Maybe 1/4 cup? I didn't officially measure. And I'm not sure how much this helps, but it works for coloring eggs, right?



Then in went the floss. Of course, it started soaking up the Kool-Aid, and the color, immediately. I didn't bundle my floss, but just left it in the skein form. I think this would have been fine, but curious people at my house (MOM!!!!) wanted to stir the mixture. We encountered some tangling...but not too much.

I'm not sure that it made a difference, but I let it sit for a while. Then I took the floss out, rinsed it with a bit of cool water, and squeezed extra liquid out. Here's what it looked like:



Well, it wasn't blurry in real life, but apparently I was having a bad photo day, even in good light. Some color came off on the paper towel, so this was not totally set.



After untangling, I knotted them up, and tossed them in a mesh bag for delicates, and put them in the dryer on a nice hot setting. They came out looking great!

I still don't know how color safe they are, but I'm not too worried. I rarely stitch things that get washed, and so I'll just be sure to use these only for things that I don't need to consider that. Besides, the point of this was to have something that used my favorite flavor.

Now I'm thinking that I should stitch something up that honors this sugary treat of childhood...