Adding More Color By Overdyeing

A little recipe for you to help perk up a skein of plain or colored natural fiber yarn with overdyeing. Supplies you will need:
¼ cup vinegar
2-3 cups tepid water
a 2 -3 qt pot
a packet or two (or more for really dark result) of unsweetened Kool-aid
Optional: candy thermometer.
Add the water, vinegar, and Kool-aid to the pot and without heating, stir until the Kool-aid is fully dissolved. Open up your yarn skein so it is just a big loop and arrange in the pan making sure all parts are submerged.
Turn on the heat, low or very low, depending on your stove top. The goal is to raise the water temperature to about 185-190 degrees gradually without boiling the water. Monitor the water color. When it's the correct temp, the color will be absorbed by the fiber and the water will be clear or very close to clear. This gradual increase should take at least 15-20 min. You can poke and shift the contents but avoid stirring unless you are using superwash wool. Once the water is clear, cover the pot and remove from heat. Allow the pot to sit until it reaches room temp to set the dye and absorb any additional dye in the water.
Rinse the skein. If you see color in the rinse water it is either not completely set (redo process with water and more vinegar) or there was so much Kool-aid that the yarn couldn’t absorb it all. Roll in an old towel and squeeze out the extra moisture. Hang skein to dry.
This will work for animal fiber, silk, and nylon. Wool/acrylic blends will partially absorb the dye giving you a heathered look.