Soaker Stuff

I've been getting a lot of hits lately from people looking for information on knitted soakers for cloth diapered babies. (Stop reading now, Geekzilla.) Thanks for the shoutout, Stacey! It's been awhile since I knit a soaker (Mr. Munchkin's been potty trained for awhile) but I'll try to recap the lessons that I learned when knitting soakers long ago.

Yarn - Choose a mostly or all wool yarn that will knit into a dense fabric. Worsted weight is fantastic as it knits up relatively quickly, and still provides the thickness needed. Preferably a yarn that is very soft to the touch, as it will be rubbing against your baby's tender skin. Definitely NOT superwash. (The superwash treatment basically nullifies the lanolinization that soaker has to go through to be effectively "waterproof".)

My personal favourites for soaker knitting included Malabrigo and 100PureWool. 100PureWool is the same quality as Malabrigo - possibly a touch thinner - but MUCH cheaper than Malabrigo. But I've knit soakers out of Noro (scratchy as hell), Cascade (nice, if a bit limp), and Manos del Uruguay (ungh, very bumpy) ...whatever works for the pattern, your baby and you. If pilliness is an issue for you - get a 2 ply as opposed to a single ply like the malabrigo.

Pattern - There are several patterns available online, such as the Curly Purly soaker, Fern and Faerie soaker, and the Down Under soaker. I have knit the Punk Knitter's Soaker and the Perfection Pants soaker...but by far and away, my favourite pattern was the Hybrid Rib Wrap from Little Turtle Knits. It was trim under clothes, very effective and just plain purty. Most of the soakers I knit were the hybrid rib, as it worked the best for us. Easy on, easy off and it holds its shape reeeeally nicely over time, unlike most of the others.

Washing and Care - Soakers need to be lanolized before they're initially worn. Two ways to do this:

Old School - Take some pure lanolin (you can buy tubes in the drugstore) and a small jar. A baby food jar works well for this. Fill the jar with the hottest water you can stand. Squeeze a pea-sized amount of lanolin into the jar, along with a small squirt of dishsoap. (The dishsoap is to suspend the dissolved lanolin in the water.) Close the lid, and shake the jar until the lanolin is more or less dissolved...you definitely don't want lanolin lumps. Add the concoction to a basin of tepid water, and swoosh it around to mix it all up. Put your soakers into the basin, and let soak for an hour or so. After that time is up, get the water out of the soakers - dealer's choice on either using the towel method or tossing them into the washer for a quick spin - and lay flat to dry. They're ready to use now.

New School - Use a lanolin spray like the ones from Naturally Luxe. Spray it onto a clean soaker, rub in, you're done.

Soakers need to be re-lanolized every once in awhile to maintain their effectiveness...but you can prolong the time between lanolizations (is that a word?) by using a nice wool wash, some of which are specifically designed for wool soakers with extra lanolin added. I like Eucalan, the wool soap bars from stores like Baby Blossoms, and the Organic Wool Wash from Naturally Luxe.

Just as an FYI - if you are prone to skin conditions like eczema, lanolin can trigger flare-ups. I have this problem, so I always wore rubber gloves when lanolizing Mr. Munchkin's soakers.

So...I can't remember anything else important about knitted soakers. (Short term memory loss FTL!) If there's anyone out there reading this that has questions, I'd be happy to answer them if I can. I would post pics of the soakers that I've knit, but I've loaned them all to a friend who's using them on her baby. That's the other advantage of cloth diapering - you can share the cuteness of a big ole squishy baby butt!

Bjork.

As mentioned last night on the way back from KOL.

Apparently, Bjork used to knit - and gauging from the outfit in the photo here, has quite the mad love affair with crochet. I love her so very very very much. Especially when she talks about the visual nature of music.


Click on the picture to read the story...

Damn, I need a bigger house.

So, as some of you know - my Mum used to own a yarn store back in the day. When she sold the business, she kept the yarn. As a result, I grew up in a house that had 3 or so yarn closets. Meaning that if you opened the door to said closets, you could end up bonked on the head by a bag or three of ribbon yarn. And the ribbons, oy. Mr. Ninja and I nearly got a divorce when he saw the "two or three" boxes of stuff that my Mum put on the moving truck...it was 6 large boxes of ribbons, and a massive chest of embroidery thread. Needless to say, the tendency to packrat runs strong in my family.

When Mum came up to visit a few weeks ago, she brought me some of the remaining fancy yarns.

Looks innocuous, yes?

I can't work with any of it. >_< It's all mohair or mohair blends. And uh ... the colours are very ... retro. I don't think that I have enough irony left in my body to sport a fuzzy, green and purple mohair sweater with any flair. Motherhood seems to have drained any insouciance that I could have used to pull that off. But some of it is just lovely. Anyone? Willing to sell this stuff fairly cheap - but only to a good home. No giving the skeins to the felines as cat toys...

In other news, I have my Sockapalooza pal! As she likes natural fabrics and lace...I'm set. Am thinking of either knitting her Baudelaire or Hedera. I don't think that my Cookie A. patterns will be arriving from the co-op in time, unfortunately. Of course...I still have the beast to complete. Only two inches left on the back of the sweater, and then it's off to the races on the sleeves! I am so close to finishing, I can smell it. Or that's possibly the brownies in the oven. Either one works for me.

Facebook = Evil.

So, I caved. Set myself up on facebook...and was quite overwhelmed by the number of people who actually remembered who I am, despite my best efforts to be forgettable. >_<

Uhm...so...how does one turn this thing off, exactly? I think that I'd like to go back into my hidey-hole now...

Meme!

I don't do memes, usually. But this one amused me. From Elizaboothy.

james brown or marvin gaye? James Brown! Hit mah! Ungh! Good God! The exclamation points!

chinese or indian takeout? Chinese. For obvious reasons.

fleece or knitted blanket? Knitted. I like the texture and the breathability of knitted stuff.

girls with makeup or without? Without. Easier to rub one’s temples and nose bridge when not worried about smudging something vital. Besides, I always feel weird when I wear makeup – like I’m smothered or something.

costco or whole foods? Whole Foods. Man, that was one of the BEST things about our trip to Austin a few years ago. It's just a very pleasant shopping experience.

wildflowers or arrangements? Huge, lush, exotic arrangements. Wildflowers just remind me of all the weeding that I’ve got to do. *sigh*

tradition or shakeups? Depends…but generally, I like trying new stuff.

cello or trumpet? Cello. Yo-Yo Ma is a god.

watch-wearing or no? Nope. I lose watches like clockwork (ha!), despite my best intentions.

salt water or fresh (for swimming)? Both! The one thing that I love about where we live is that it’s a 5 minute walk to a freshwater lake and a 15 minute drive to the wild open ocean. I keep wanting to learn how to surf.

pants or shorts? Pants. I giggle when I think of Bermuda shorts.

chatspeak or absolutely NOT? When gaming, wtfpwned is a very useful thing to know. However, as a recovering English major, it always makes me wince and die a little inside.

digital camera or old-school? I had my own photography lab until the chemicals did me in. So digital for me.

wireless or plugged in? Plugged in. We’re old school around here, none of that newfangled wifi…damn whippersnappers, get off my lawn!

waltz or tango? Sultry lustful Tango vs. straightlaced, poised Waltz? Gimme some hotsauce, baby. Tango all the way.

brian williams or anderson cooper? Brian Williams.

time or newsweek? Gah. Seriously? Those are my choices? Ungh. I read my news online, but if I have to read a news magazine, it’s the Economist.

waterbed or mattress? King sized mattress.

cream and sugar or not? Double double.

CNN or BBC News? BBC. I love how their human interest stories are so incredibly varied and international in nature.

iTunes or something else? iTunes, those mingy corporate bastards.

scented candles or unscented? Unscented. Due to chemical sensitivities, I can’t handle most of today’s chemically derived artificial scents.

prairie or mountain? Mountain. The prairies stir up madness – 6 hours of driving in the Alberta flats was more than enough sky and flat earth for a lifetime.

socks or barefoot? Barefoot. I don’t feel the cold after years of wearing a skirt in the Ontario winters of my youth, and will always maintain that one does not need socks unless it is beneath 0 degrees Celsius outside.

matt damon or ben affleck? Ben. Despite his smarminess, he’s still got more charisma than Matt.

brass or pewter? Brass? Maybe? I’ve always loved brass door knockers…and I've been told before that I have brass balls...

wool or cotton? Love ‘em both. Will work with both. Perpetually need more for the stash.

willow tree or pine? Willow.

gerald ford or jimmy carter? Barry White.

france or italy? I have some terrific memories of both places, but I’d have to go with Italy. The people are utterly fabulous, (I love the fact that they wear jean jackets lined with fur...so casually decadent) and marginally less snobby than the French.

electric or gas stove? Gas for esthetics, and electric for practicality.

thrift store or outlet? Make your own clothes. ‘Enuff said.

japanese garden or english garden? Both. Yin and Yang.

sophia loren or liz taylor? Sophia. Liz is just too American for my tastes, I suppose.

Man, I needed that.

WARNING: Image heavy post...

Needless to say, I took a hiatus from writing. But now that the sun has started to shine, and I can hear things growing in my garden (in particular, the crocuses are shouting rather loudly) ... I think that I'm finally ready to start unturtling again.

I haven't been lazy, though - I put my time in purgatory to good use.

Spinning:
Alpaca /Silk mixed with some random FA roving that I found at LK Yarns.

Some odd remants of roving mixed with some sparkles - also from LK yarns.

Merino - probably around worsted weight...I'm calling this one Monsoon Wedding because it reminds me of a sari that my friend wore once.

The new home for all of my coloured rovings - the base rovings are stored under my knitting chair.

Sewing:
A cutie pie pincushion - the top is a cashmere remnant that I found in the stash.

My new knitting bag - it's my first lined bag of this kind. Let's just say that if I'd known that the zipper actually comes fully apart...my life would have been much easier that particular afternoon.

New footie jammies for Mr. Munchkin. They're ... uh ... too large. >_< I made the size 5, assuming that since he's currently in size 4 store bought clothing, everthing would be peachy. That will teach me to measure twice, cut once, that's for bloody sure. But the boy loves it, even as it sags around his knees. When he swaggered around the living room in this outfit, I had a momentary glimpse of what life with a teenager will be like. Pass the tequila, please.

Knitting:

Here we have the bane of my existence - a sweater for Mr. Ninja...due in time for his birthday. I am so screwed. I'm making up the pattern as I go along, and you can totally tell - hence the weirdo cabling going on. While I'm pleased with it (it's my first adult sized sweater), when knitting this beast, I often contemplate what life would have been like had I married a shorter man. Conclusion? Mr. Ninja is worth every mis-crossed cable and wonky dropped stitch...but I swear that if he asks when it's going to be done again, I WILL invoke the woman's prayer. Ahem.

Dear Lord,
I pray for Wisdom to understand my man,
Love to forgive him,
And Patience for his moods...

Because Lord, if I pray for Strength, I'll beat him to death. *


Socks from the handspun - one down, and the ribbing started on the second. It's travel and playground knitting at this point...I have no desire to haul around the beast.

Cleaning:

I tidied up my upstairs stash basket. Now I just need to find somewhere to put this stuff. Hmmm. Well, Mr. Ninja doesn't REALLY need an underwear drawer, does he? Hmmm. The possibilities!

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*nicked from my favourite gaming board - www.petalsandthorns.com

Thanks All...

For all the well wishes, kind emails and offers of help - thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I have to say, because this miscarriage wasn't as much of a shock (three days in the hospital kinda makes some things inevitable) ... it's a little easier to deal with than the last one. But it's still a punch to the gut. The only consolation (and it's pretty freakin' minor) is that if I get pregnant again, at least I'll be under more careful supervision.

I just wish that this nasty nasty virulent flu bug that has infected our household would go away. That would make the recovery a little easier...anyone have any tips on how to get one's body seriously re-hydrated?

Yarn news to follow once I'm back on my feet.