The test results are in! At our February Guild meeting, everyone brought their projects from the Kool-aid dye challenge.
Here are the winners, as voted by the Guild members:

Leaf shawl, from different strengths of orange, then overdyed to mitigate the obvious stripes. Lovely.
Here are some examples from people who have dyed with Kool-aid before, and know that it takes a lot of dye to get a lot of color:
Here are some examples of using less dye to nice effect:

Tea cozy topped with knit flowers, which were hand painted with Kool-aid, just as one would marzipan.
Some excellent examples of blending with neutrals:
What did I end up doing? My initial attempt at using Kool-aid ended with yarn that I hated. I went off on a tangent and dyed a lot of fiber with candy. I made this project bag. I got Spinner’s Block. I got over it. And in the 11th hour, I spun and dyed this:

Targhee two-ply, dyed with a jawbreaker, tic-tacs and sprinkles, then gradient dyed with red-to-blue Kool-aid.
I didn’t win, but I learned a lot, including an appreciation for dying spun yarn, not just wool. Up next: bring on the natural dyes!
Wow. What a lot of skill on display in this challenge. Love those socks. Your Kool-Aid/candy yarn is pretty darn awesome!!!
Yes! The people in my Guild really bring it! It’s definitely inspiring. I think my candy/Kool-aid yarn will be more interesting once it’s turned into something. Working on it…