[Phoebe]

I am planning on making some soakers but I'm unsure of what kind of wool to use. I see there are a few different brands with different kinds of wool. I wanted to used Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool but it is expensive.

Any suggestions regarding crochet/knit soakers in general are welcome!

Thanks ladies!!
Amy

 

[Yarnia]

Actually, Lion brand fishermans is relatively cheap, especially if you plan to make more than one soaker. You should be able to get at least 2 with one skein.
Check your local paper for coupons to Joanns, Michaels, Hancock fabrics or other craft stores.

 

[Phoebe]

No kidding? 2 soakers with 1 skein???
I'm used to making full sized blankets using 5-10 skeins. I can handle that price then!

 

[kimberlylibby]

I like Cascade 220 and Plymouth Galway

 

[pageta]

You need up to 4 oz. per soaker. In other words, you can make the largest size with 4 oz. of yarn or less - a smaller soaker takes less, of course.

LTK, fabricconnection.com, Holy Sheep - all of those places are WAHMS from here and have great yarn.

I'm not patient enough to wait for them to mail me things so I haven't treated myself to their goods yet. I have found a local yarn shop that has nice wool. Hancock, Joanns, craft stores like Michaels - you'll be lucky in my experience if you can find anything 100% wool there. My local yarn shop is more like a botique, but they have the nice addi turbo needles and really great stuff. If you're impatient like me, you may want to check your local phone book under Yarn to see what is in your area.

 

[chrfath]

Fabriconnections two-ply is fantastic. I love using the Lion brand fisherman's too.

But my new favorite is Plymouth Outback Wool - you could probably get 3 med from a skein. It really has a fantasic feel and beautiful colors.

 

[linnea]

Where did you find the Outback Wool? My LYS doesn't carry it.

I got some 3-ply from Fabric Connection, I don't know what I was thinking... it's too bulky to make soakers with.

Anyone want some hand-dyed 3-ply?

 

[chrfath]

I found the Outback at a LYS. But if you do a yahoo/google search for it there are two places on line with really great prices. Sorry, I don't remember the names and I don't know how to post links.

:

 

[lori810]

I love Cascade 220. And the natural is great to dye with koolaid!

 

[Phoebe]

What is LYS?

 

[linnea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoebe What is LYS?

Local Yarn Store

 

[Austin'smom]

I use the Fishermans wool I can get it at Michaels here for $8.00 ( I use a 40% off coupon and get it for $5.00) I can get 3 large soakers out of it!

So they are less than $2.00 a piece + the kool aid to dye them of course.

 

[allformyboys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrfath Fabriconnections two-ply is fantastic. I love using the Lion brand fisherman's too. But my new favorite is Plymouth Outback Wool - you could probably get 3 med from a skein. It really has a fantasic feel and beautiful colors.

Ohh if you can find it the plymouth cascade is the best! I love it!! The outback is pretty too, a little bulkier than the cascade.

And the three ply fabriconnections is bulky but it makes a GREAT night time cover, I used it to knit up my wooly wonder from the class and it is what the now infamous lil' blue is made out of, so yes it is bulkier, but it knits up super fast (I did lil blue in 3 1/2 hours) and a green/purple one in about 3 even. So the yarn may be bulky but it does knit up really fast and works great overnight for super soakers!

For a regular soaker though I would go with fabriconnections 2 ply or fishermans. Fishermans wool at Hobby Lobby is $7.82 plus tax and I get 3 soakers out of it. That is pretty darn cheap, when you consider I pay up to $40 a skein for organic or $20 a skein for the plymouth cascade. (of course the cascade are pre-dyed so I don't have the time/dye into that)

 

[meco]

LYS=Local yarn store

I love www.fabriconnection.com I have used the 3 ply for great soakers--with 10.5s. And the 2 ply as well. I recommend them both. I love the 3 ply. It holds up great as a soaker.

And then cascade and lamb's pride as well. There are sites that have various stuff on sale in the wool department. I however always buy from fabriconnection as she is quick, it is cheap and nice and soft

 

[lifetapestry]

I don't care for fisherman's because I don't like the way that it wears over time-- it can get very pilly and felt from use (where the edges, typically around the legs, start to felt from being exposed to wet diapers and agitation from active baby).

Little Turtle Knits yarn wears like iron-- it might start to pill, but then the pills slough off and the soaker looks brand new again. I have a LTK soaker that looks brand new and it's almost 2 years old (and it gets a lot of use). The wool also performs well in resisting moisture, and gets softer over time. It feels kind of scratchy when you knit with it though, so that's a bit of a bummer. It softens up as soon as you wash and lanolize it, and doesn't feel scratchy thereafter.

I'm one of those knitters that can only knit with yarn that I like. What I really like to knit with is Manos del uruguay yarn, which is hand spun and dyed in Uruguay by a women's cooperative. It's a blend of merino and corriedale (which, if I remember correctly, is a sheep that is 1/2 merino), it is amazingly soft and it is very lanolin rich (I don't even need to lanolize it for my heavy wetter). Makes an awesome night time cover. It's $11-14 skein, which is 3.5 oz and 138 yds. It took almost 2 full skeins to make a very (too) large soaker, but I think you'd need 2 for almost every size soaker except the very smallest. The yarn does get fuzzy (not pilly though, and the fuz is easy to remove if you want to). I love patting my son's but when he's wearing that soaker at night; it's like having an extra pet in the bed

karla

 

[jeoweo]

Hi there! I have used Paton's Merino Wool and Lion Brand Alpaca (which is a wool/alpaca/acrylic combo) and like both. I'm about to expand and try some other things though. The Lion's Brand alpaca is SO soft but a little "hairy" which I usually don't like in knitted items But my son's fuzzy chocolate brown alpaca soaker SOFT bottom is so cute. Anyway, it's great fun picking the yarn and making soakers. Enjoy.

 

[amyrobynne]

I got Cascade 200 for $6 a skein at my LYS--is that different from the Plymouth Cascade? Why the difference in price? It was 3.5 or 4 oz.

I haven't found the Fisherman's wool, so I got the Cascade instead. I'm glad to hear that others have liked it over time!

 

[HoosierDiaperinMama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austin'smom I use the Fishermans wool I can get it at Michaels here for $8.00 ( I use a 40% off coupon and get it for $5.00) I can get 3 large soakers out of it! So they are less than $2.00 a piece + the kool aid to dye them of course.

Wow! That's good to know. I have a skein of it sitting by the recliner ready to start some soakers. Now if I can just get up the nerve!