Okay... so I made a wool soaker

[Daisie125]

I made a wool soaker out of a felted 100% wool sweater from the thrift store. Now what? Do I have to lanolize it? How do I do that... it seems kind of involved... how often do I have to do that? How often do I wash it? (and how do I wash it?) Do I *have* to lanolize it, or is it just a personal preference.

I'm planning on using it (and maybe making a few more) for nighttime diapering.

TIA

[Mama Dragon]

This is what I plan on doing, as suggested at OSDS:

Pre-Washing Instructions: Wool fabrics need to be "felted" before using to sew a diaper cover. Using a lanolin wool wash such as Eucalan®, (Do NOT use regular detergents with wool!) wash your wool fabric on hot and dry on hot. Repeat the process at least once. The hot temperature combined with the cold rinse and agitation of the washing machine and dryer will felt the fabric, it will look thicker and bumpier when it comes out of the dryer.

The shrinking process causes the fibers to felt up, filling in holes and appearing thicker & more dense when you are finished. Wool can shrink unevenly, and sometimes the edges get a bit wavy. Be sure to order enough to allow for shrinkage, you can lose several inches during the felting process. One yard of wool jersey is seldom enough to work with once felted.

Wash and Care for Wool Covers: Regular detergents are too harsh & not only strip wool of its natural lanolin, but can also strip the color from dyed wool. After your covers are sewn, continue to use a good wool wash on the gentle cycle in warm to wash your covers once a week or when they become soiled. Lay your clean covers on a towel to air dry.

Re-Lanolizing: If you notice that your wool covers stop functioning well, it may be time to re-lanolize them. Disolve a ½ tablespoon of pure lanolin (Lansinoh® nipple ointment works great!) in a cup of hot water. Mix the dissolved lanolin into a sink or small basin of warm/lukewarm water - enough to completely cover your wool diaper cover. Allow to soak for 30 minutes to an hour. Place the cover on a towel and roll out the excess moisture and allow to air dry.

[Rachel Flores]

I usually wash my wool once a month and relanoliz every other month (althought I have some spray lanolin so I might be relanolizing after every wash if I like how it works). To wash my wool I bought a wool wash bar, but if I didn't have that I'd use baby shampoo. To lanolize I fill the sink with warm water, enough to cover the wool and put my wool inside out in it. I fill a microwaveable cup with about 1cup of water. I put a pea sized amount of lanolin in (I like the stuff you can get for breastfeeding) and a small squirt of baby shampoo and microwave it for a minute or until the lanolin is melted, stir it up (the shampoo should keep the lanolin suspended in the water instead of floating on top) and pour it on top of the wool in the sink. I let it sit for 1h- overnight, squeeze it out and hang dry. It sounds compicated but really isn't. hth

[jillybeans]

i wash my woolies(from sweaters) when they get pooped in and every other week. I just toss em in the wash on delicate with a few drops of baby wash. I air dry them or put them in the dryer on air dry. If they need relanolizing, I just melt a bit of lansinoh and toss em in a sink of water, usually hot. They've already been felted a lot, so I'm pretty casual about how I take care of em. For the extra wool that you have, you can make another cover without leg cuffs. I HATE wasting wool. So i just zigzag around the leg hole 3 or 4 times! Works like a charm!