Tell me aboutr knit wool covers

[JamieCatheryn]

I'm so tired of PUL wraps, they work great but are rather icky and ugly. I learned to knit this month, so I'm working on soakers. I've read the airing and washing and lanolizing info. Tell me about your experiences please about changing them, having your kids wear them, washing them, etc?

[cristeen]

Love em! I only have 1 PUL cover, for those particular outfits that need PUL under them.

I like to have at least 3 on hand - one on the butt, one damp/drying, and one spare, just in case of a blow-out. It takes about a day to dry a woolie after washing, and we seem to always need at least 2 in rotation. If we have a blow-out, I just spot-wash it to get the poo out, then dry it.

I do recommend picking up liquid lanolin for lanolizing. I tried with the Lansinoh solid stuff, and it was a real pain to work with - the liquid is so much easier.

Oh, and since you're making them yourself - drawstrings are your friend.

[Pat899]

LOve wool!

You air out the one baby peed in so you are constantly switching them during the day. But you don't wash them but every two weeks. I have about six pair of pants, footies , or skirties in a rotation for each child. When it is hot we go to soakers and shorts. Since you can make them yourself you can create a rotation that you really love.

I love wool! Nothing keeps a baby dryier at night.

So I use it as regular clothing so I can see it all day.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by cristeen

Love em! I only have 1 PUL cover, for those particular outfits that need PUL under them.

I like to have at least 3 on hand - one on the butt, one damp/drying, and one spare, just in case of a blow-out. It takes about a day to dry a woolie after washing, and we seem to always need at least 2 in rotation. If we have a blow-out, I just spot-wash it to get the poo out, then dry it.

I do recommend picking up liquid lanolin for lanolizing. I tried with the Lansinoh solid stuff, and it was a real pain to work with - the liquid is so much easier.

Oh, and since you're making them yourself - drawstrings are your friend.

Where do you get the liquid lanolin?

[lalemma]

I find regular lanolin super easy to work with. I just dissolve it in hot water with a drop of soap before pouring the whole thing into a a sinkful of water with my wool in it.

[lalemma]

Oh, and: knitted covers (longies for me) in a worsted-weight wool work just fine. I have one recycled pair in a lighter-weight wool that just can't handle the pee. So I'd stick with worsted-weight yarn if possible!

My baby doesn't wear wool all the time - he often goes coverless at home - so we have three pairs of longies he uses regularly. That's plenty in terms of airing out between uses for us, but you would probably want another pair or two if you were using wool full-time.

I also love that as long as you pick a reasonably soft wool to start with, lanolinizing the cover makes it totally non-itchy. (I get wool itchies myself, so I'm paranoid!)

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

Where do you get the liquid lanolin?

I got it from a local diaper store, bananapeeldiapers.com

[JamieCatheryn]

I made one soaker but sized it up in hopes that felting would make it right, it didn't so that will be useful later on. Started my second in size medium instead and it looks like it's going to be great. Half done. So, you use these covers as outer clothing, right? Because it can wick if they wear something on top? That means no more onesies and we need to get some shirts? Which is better, added elastic bands or drawstrings?

[Pat899]

drawstrings are better.

No onesies. It may wick through... If it is not lanolized well or if the yarn is of a thiner variety. But really, we wool lovers just love to see the wool. Wool bloomers, wool pants (longies), wool shorts (shorties), wool soakers, and wool skirties: they are all so beautiful and bright.

You can make little works of art for your baby. Without spending very much money at all you can make posh little outfits. Nothing melts my heart more than seeing a little one in something their mama made creations.

No onsies just won't do for a wool covered bottom. But you don't have to get new shirts. They don't really even sell many for little babies. Take the onesies you already have and cut them off at the lowest point. If you have a serger then serge the bottom. If you don't then leave it. It will only fray a tiny bit.

[averlee]

I used the down-under diaper cover pattern, which is just a long triangle. And I just used plain old super cheap acrylic yarn. It worked fine, no lanolin care required!