Wool Care

Care and Keeping of Wool
As with any cloth diapering system, it is important to read the wash and care information given by the manufacturer. Some wool does require a simple hand washing system, while others can be placed on a gentle cycle in a washing machine.

Hand Washing:

1. Do an initial rinse in cold water to cleanse away any surface urine or solid waste. Then fill the sink or medium sized bucket with warm (ONLY WARM NOT HOT, unless you plan on your cover becoming a doll baby cover) water, add wool wash. 
2. Place your wool items gently into the soak water and soak for at least 15 - 30 minutes.  Most of the time I forget about them and leave them for an hour or two.   Once it has soaked, gently squeeze out all excess water. Do not wring the cover s this may cause felting.  Lay the cover(s) flat on a towel, and roll it up.  I then have my daughter do a little "dance" on the towel to help squeeze as much of the water out as possible.  Then unroll the towel and place your wool item(s) flat to dry.  I normally wash covers about every 4 - 6 weeks.  I have several wool pieces for my daughter:  pants, shorts, capris, skirts, and soakers so they rotated quite frequently.

Machine Washing:

I personally do not recommend machine washing wool unless you have a "wool" setting on your machine.  I do and have washed wool interlock soakers, but have not washed hand-knit wool items.

Lanolinzation:

Once you wash your wool and would like to use the item as a diaper cover, the soaker or pants must be lanolized. 

1. Start with a clean wool soaker, skirt, short, etc.
2. Prepare the lanolin "bath":  There are a variety of products on the market, but I suggest Sheepish Grins liquid or solid lanolin.  I fill my sink with WARM water - not hot as this can lead to felting - and put approximately 1 tsp of liquid lanolin and a drizzle of liquid wool wash to emulsify the lanolin in the water.  Make sure your water looks milky white.  If you are using solid lanolin, you will need to prepare your lanolin mixture in a jar with a lid.  You will need to put in about a lima bean sized piece of lanolin in the jar with a drizzle of wool wash and then fill the jar with boiling water.  Put the lid on the jar and shake well making sure the lanolin is well emulsified with the wool wash turning the water to a milky white and then add this hot lanolin mixture to cool water.
3. Submerge your wool pieces without any agitation and making sure your "bath" water is warm, not hot.  Let your wool sit for anywhere from  15 minutes to overnight.  I prefer to put my wool in the sink after the kids have gone to bed and let it soak overnight.
4. Drain the water from the sink without disturbing the wool
5. Turn the wool rightside out and roll to squeeze out excess water.
6. I then repeat the process of rolling in the towel, letting my daughter "dance", and laying the piece flat to dry.

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