[mamajohnson]

For all of you that make or use the knitted diaper covers . What yarn is best? Wool? Sock yarn? Cotton? Acrylic? ? I really want to make some of these and have several great patterns. But the yarn question is holding me back. These would be for gifts to cloth and paper diaper users. I have lots of stash to choose from. I always need an excuse to get more. Hehe

 

[SvenskaFlicka]

I don't use them (no kids yet), but my friends who do say wool or Superwash wool. You want fabric that won't wick.

Hope that helps.

 

[mamajohnson]

So cotton is probably a bad idea.

 

[hercsmama]

My Grannie used to make them, first for my Mom, and then my brother and I. She even made a set for my DD when she was born, but by then disposables were all the rage, so I never used them.
They were always made from wool.
Somewhere around here, I still have a box full of them.. have no idea why exactly I still have them. But now that you've reminded me about it, I'll pack them up and send them to DD. When she FINALLY has babies, she intends to use cloth diddies. Nice that someone will get use out of all the work Grannie did again..

Edited to add, I remember when she made DD's. They looked huge as she was knitting them. But she would make them from pure wool, as I said, then toss them in the washer to felt them. Shrunk them to the right size, and made them almost waterproof!

 

[Ceilismom]

If they are intended to be just decorative, I'd skip cotton regardless of what type of diaper is under them, but superwash, regular wool, acrylic would all be fine, and the weight of the yarn wouldn't seem to me to matter much.

I know of families who use acrylic over cloth as the waterproof layer because they have philosophical objections to wool, or have a child who is highly sensitive to it. That might be something to keep in mind for gifts. I always used worsted weight wool yarn (not superwash) for my kids, because the cover was the protective/wicking layer over cloth diapers. My favorite wool yarn to use was 100Purewool, very soft, very nice to work with, and affordable as wool goes, but I believe that company is out of business.

 

[Maura]

You want wool and make sure it has lanolin. If it wicks, it pulls wetness from the diaper and from the baby. Or, you could just change the baby more often. If you add lanolin to the rinse water, it will repel the wet. Make sure it has short little legs for added safety.

 

[Marchwind]

Soakers are different than diaper covers. Soakers need to be made of wool, washed so they will slightly shrink and to retain much of the lanolin. Diaper covers would just be for decoration and probably it doesn't matter too much what it is made of as long as it stays put.

 

[mamajohnson]

I was pondering the felted ones. I knew ya'll would have b the c answers!

 

[hercsmama]

Soakers are different than diaper covers. Soakers need to be made of wool, washed so they will slightly shrink and to retain much of the lanolin. Diaper covers would just be for decoration and probably it doesn't matter too much what it is made of as long as it stays put.

Good point Marchie! I wasn't even thinking of the difference.
My Granny made Soakers, not Covers. Although the little girl ones had a little ruffle on them...

 

[Marchwind]

MamaJ here's a link to a Ravelry search http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#sort=best&query=wool soakers

 

[Kasota]

Marchwind is the Queen of Links.

 

[mamajohnson]

Thank you!