Ahh, that's much better

Okay, since the last post I have gotten a workout in, had a break from the girls for 24 hours, AND completed and listed something in my Etsy shop. I am feeling a little more sane!

These wool nursing pads are now for sale. I hope to list some new ones that are all wool soon as well.
I am going to try to write some entries about wool care and other issues related to wool and cloth diapering.
Today, I want to write about caring for longies and shorties. Right now, I am cloth diapering my 3 month old son. He wears a combination of fitted diapers and prefold diapers, and we use two pairs of longies on rotation. The longies are wool pants that serve as his diaper cover and his pants. I am breastfeeding him, and we have entered the stage of blowouts. Therefore, we have to wash his longies more than I would like because they often have poop on them! Longies can't be washed with regular diaper wash, as the soap would strip them of their natural oil, lanolin, which is what makes them suitable as a cloth diaper cover. The lanolin is what neutralizes the urine odor, and what helps the wool remain water resistant.
So, when a pair of longies gets poopy or starts to smell, they need to be washed. The easiest way that I have found to wash them is in a small bucket or just right in your bathroom sink. Here is what I do: get the water running warm (not too hot, not too cold). Plug up the drain, fill the sink full enough to cover the longies. While the water is running, I add my wool wash (natural, with lanolin, NOT woolite). I use Eucalan because I love the smell and I don't have to rinse it out. I add a capful and swirl it around with my hands. Add the longies/shorties and gently agitate and squeeze. If they are really poopy, I need to get the poop off gently and let that water go down the drain and repeat the first steps. Then, I let the woolies to sit in the soapy water for 15-30 minutes (or until I remember they are in there!). Then I let the water out of the sink, gently squeeze them, and then roll them in a towel. Then I hang them to dry.
Have any questions? Feel free to comment. Or post your method or favorite wool wash! I will do another entry on machine based woolies care.