The past few weeks I can be labeled as MIW (missing in wool). I have to admit, I'm obsessed with it. This whole new turn in my cloth diapering world is simply because about 3 months ago my daughter had a horrible diaper rash and the microfiber inserts in her pockets smelled horrible all the time. Washing them had turned into an excursion of, prewashing in warm water, soaking overnight in hot with soap, rinsing in hot 2 times and then 2 more rinses. It has just become unacceptable and simply a HUGE pain in my butt. So when the rash came and wouldn't go away, I busted out my crochet hook and whipped up my ugly woolie pattern that I used as an overnight cover with my son. Slapped on a prefold diaper and within a day her rash was gone. Completely mystified and beyond impressed. I made a trip down to our local cloth diaper shop and bought their gently used (dyed in pretty colors) prefolds, some snappis and boingos, along with some fantastic smelling wool wash. Went home, washed the diapers, and never looked back. I have since learned how to make a star, heart, bear paw, bear face, and frilly wool covers. I'm working on a pair of longies, but progress on that stopped after a visit to ETSEY with one of my bf's.
Up cycled wool longies?? My obsession monsters eyes grew large as drool started to trickle. "MUST TRY IT, NOW!!" I then found myself at the local Salvation Army on their 50% day. I raked through the racks looking for anything and everything that was 100% wool. I found 4 sweaters, 2 black, 1 brown, and 1 red. I came home and did what you are never supposed to do with wool sweaters. I washed them in HOT water and threw them in the dryer on HIGH heat. (MWAHAHAHAH) I could hear them screaming as they shrunk, but I didn't care. My fuzzy wool obsession monster was in a frenzy. I then proceeded to cut off the sleeves and sew them into pants, using either elastic or extra cuff for the waist. I then cut out the torso and made more pants. I soaked them in the gentle, organic wool wash with extra lanolin to soothe their seething dried wool fibers. It took two sessions of lanolising to get them to where they need to be for water repelling and wearing.
Upon doing this I erased one step from my daughters diaper changing routine. Instead of : diaper, cover and pants, it's : diaper and pants. So easy and she loves how quickly she can fly in full scooting crawl mode on our hard wool floors. The only downside is that they have to be washed more often because they get things on them that normal diaper covers wouldn't get, like, oatmeal, or eggs. It's okay though. I'm still not through with my sweater torturing. I'm hoping to maul and brutalize at least 3 more sweaters, this time I'm hoping they will be different colors and maybe some more cable knits.
I should also finish the one I started to crochet myself. Should being the key word here.
Why Wool?? Wool is naturally water repelling, fully breathable, and antimicrobial. Think about what kind of underwear you like to wear. Really, be honest here. You love the 100% cotton, because of how breathable they are and how comfortable they are. Same goes here with baby. As a woman, my reasons for cloth diapering were really very very simple. I don't like wearing a pad, I don't like how it feels, I don't like anything about it. Paper diapers (disposables) are just that, they are a big pad. If I don't like it, why would I put it on my kid. And after the whole pocket diaper rash thing, I can even say confidently that PUL (as wonderful as it is) is still not as breathable as wool. My baby is a happy wool baby and it makes me happy knowing that her girly bits are getting proper air flow, especially after how my OB lectured me about cotton panties. There's a reason.
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