Once I became more comfortable and confident around Evie (and not freaking out every living second), I found a small amount of free time to knit. It may only be enough for one row, or a bit more if she's sleeping well. Anyhoo, it has been enough time to finish a womb, a heart, and a soaker.

This is the soaker's story.

Okay, so there's really no story to the wool soaker, just that most folks don't understand the what, why, and how behind them. Now, I'm no expert and I haven't even used mine yet, but this is what I understand.

The knitted soaker is a cover worn over a cloth diaper and is typically made from lanolized wool. The genius that is wool works to keep both the baby's bottom and her clothing (or the crib sheet) dry. It takes a lot of wet before a wool soaker will feel damp.

Wool both repels wet and absorbs moisture (funny that), the fabric breathes, which keeps the baby warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and wool is anti-bacterial so it doesn't get all funky. Amazing, no?

Anyhoo, I used the Curly Purly Soaker pattern that I found on Ravelry through the cloth diapering group. I knit the medium size knowing that this wouldn't fit Evie right away. This was knit up with a bit more than one skein of Noro Kureyon. (Thanks to Jen for the scraps.)

I still need to lanolize the soaker (how-to here), which keeps the wool water repellent and will need to be repeated throughout the soaker's use (about once a month). But we should be golden.

I'm pretty excited and am planning to make more. Any wool soaker pattern that you knitting and cloth diapering momma's recommend? (Yeah, I've got a few queued on Ravelry.)

# # #