Wool Soaker Advice

[tpintsch]

I purchased some wool sweaters from the thrift store today with the hopes of sewing them into some wool soakers. I found a pattern that looks pretty workable from diaperswappers.com. My questions are this.
1) One of the sweaters is 80% wool 20% cashmere. I was pretty sure cashmere is a natural fiber, should it work ok for the soaker?
2) The material seems a little thin. I've never handled a soaker and I'm not sure what is normal. Should I double layer it to the thickness of a knitted sweater, or is it fine the way it is?
3)People talk about felting the wool, what is this process?
4) I also know I need to lanolize them, what is the best product I can use to do this? I would prefer to purchase this from a local store but I can order it online if I have to.
5) I want to use the soakers exclusively for day and night use how many should I have in each size?

Thank you for any advice, tips, and pointers you can give.

[pampered_mom]

First...definitely consider joining the Wool Soakers Yahoo group - I think you'd find it most helpful!

-As to wool and cashmere - I think they're both wool, just different types.
-You can certainly try it the way it is. I've only ever crocheted soakers. I've used the Lion Brand Fisherman's wool which I think ends up with a rather thin result, but haven't had any problems with it. I think the Wool Soakers group could probably answer you better on this one, though.
-http://knitting.about.com/od/felting/ss/how_to_felt.htm - talks about how to felt
-Lansinoh or Medela's lanolin for nursing mothers would work just fine. I've got some liquid lanolin from www.northernessence.com that I really like.
-I've read that it's best to have 3-4 at minimum. Dd has 5 crocheted soakers (I was trying out different patterns) and that seems to be more than plenty.

[milehighmonkeys]

I prefelt all the wool sweaters I use to make soakers. I wouldn't double it. Just run it through a hot wash and hot dry. You can use the lanolin that comes in a tube that many mamas use for nursing, or you can use liquid lanolin. More places probably carry the stuff in the tube for nursing.