Best soaker yarn?

[pamama]

I hope someone can help me. I'm knitting my first soaker using the curly purly pattern. I love how it's going so far, but I have a question. I'm using Lion Brand Wool and I'm not sure it's as soft as I'd like. It was all Michaels had that was 100% wool and not superwash. I think they also had a Pattons wool, too but it felt about the same to me. Can you recommend something good for a soaker that will be super soft for baby? I don't mind ordering online if it isn't really expensive (we're on a budget). Is Knit Picks wool of the Andes good? What about Pattons SWS? I know it's a wool/soy blend, I think. Would that be good for soakers? I saw that at Michaels and it was really soft and came in pretty colors.
I'm probably also going to knit a bunch of longies for fall/winter, too so I want to start planning now.
Oh and anyway have any quick tips on lanolizing the soaker for the first time? I've been cding for almost 7 years but never used a soaker before. I had some Sugar Peas wool wraps about 5 years ago and they got weirdly discolored. Maybe it was the dye? Either that or I washed them wrong.
Thanks. :

[MamaWolfe]

I highly recommend a yahoo group called Wool_Soaker_Group. They have instructions on lanolizing, opinions on different kinds of yarn, and tons of experienced people. As far as the yarn being rough, it will soften when you lanolize but you can also soak it in a vinegar water bath overnight before you lanolize, for some reason it softens it up. For the winter, if you live in a cold climate you might consider for your longies using a wool/alpaca or wool/angora blend. It's much softer and warmer (but doesn't hold it's shape as well).
Good luck!

[Think of Winter]

KP Wool of the Andes is great, and comes in tons of colors. The price can't be beat. It's not the softest, and it will pill, but it's a good choice.

I haven't tried the wool/soy blend, but some feel that the soy would cause the cover to wick.

My favorite yarns for soakers are Peace Fleece for crawlers on up, and 100PureWool for pre-crawlers. They are both reasonable, and available online, and very reasonable if you can find a coop.

Lanolizing in a nutshell:
Wash garment and turn inside out. Lay in a basin.
In a jam jar, melt about 1/2 t (I use a baby spoon to scoop) lanolin in very hot water. Allow to cool a bit, and stir in enough baby shampoo to turn the water milky. The shampoo emulsifies the lanolin so it doesn't clump up on your soaker. Pour the solution on the crotch of your soaker and leave for at least 15-20 min. Drain water, rinse once, squeeze out excess water, spin in washing machine, reshape and lay flat to dry.

[iowaorganic]

Peace Fleece, lamb's pride, cascade 220 all work well and you would have less than $15/pair of longies. Since each skien is roughly $7 and you would probably need 2/pair. I havn't tried knitpicks wool of the andes- but I have tried knitpicks bare merino (dk or sport weight or something like that) and it is very soft and you can dye it yourself with Koolaid- and that stuff is pretty inexpensive- lie $4.50/100 gr. Maybe they have that same stuff in already dyed skiens.

I lanolinize the lazy girl way- Wash soaker inside out in warm water with a titch of baby shampoo or Eucalan. Take out of water but don't squeeze any water out. Lay flat. Fill a peri bottle with hot water and add in about a half inch strip of lanolin (I use lansinoh breastfeeding lanolin). Shake bottle well until the lanolin is disolved. Then spray the water/lanolin solution on the soaker- go heavy in the parts you need more coverage on. Let sit for a 10 minutes or so. I squeeze out water by hand and then roll them in a couple towels to get more water out. then I hang them on my shower rack to dry and I flip as needed. My way turns out a titch greasy- but it hasn't been a problem!

[pamama]

Thanks! I knew you guys would have suggestions. I'll check out the yahoo group. And look online for some of the other yarns and experiment a bit.

[love2bmom]

My favorite it Cascade 220. I like Peace Fleece and Galway too.