The aggressive gendering of baby clothes is irritating. I’m also irritated by a lot of the designs. For example, I don’t like the sleepers with the built in feet. I would rather have fold over feet and mittens. I’d like to keep costs at a minimum, so I’ve considered second hand. Hunting second hand markets for those specific items is difficult because the second hand market is flooded with the ugliest, trashiest crap you can imagine. A lot of it is also the same price of it being new, so what’s the point? I understand for newborn sizes the clothing is typically only worn for a month or less, but washing clothing does put it under some stress so it shouldn’t be sold at such high costs.

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Ravelry Link

This is by far the simplest wrap style soaker pattern I’ve seen. It knits up quickly, and it’s very portable because of the easy instructions. I think this may still be outside the abilities of a beginner, maybe an advanced beginner for the M1B/F. But this is the most simple pattern so far.

I think additions of short rows to the back panel would be best.

Many of the reviews on ravelry state that it doesn’t give enough coverage in the thighs, others state it’s an ideal pattern. I can always crochet additions if they’re needed. One thing I’ve noticed in general is the many people making these patterns with superwash wool, which is perplexing as you’d have to lanolize them much more often, and you’re not getting the usual benefits of wool. In the future I may use the modification listed for ribbing instead of decreasing for the leg holes.

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Ravelry Link Direct Link

I’m interested in the wrap style wool soaker patterns because they’re less common than the pull-up style. I don’t like the idea of threading little legs into small cuffs, as well. I’d like to try both styles and see what suits me best.

This pattern is a struggle. It gives the pattern in little chunks and then references those chunks in the “knitting instructions” sections. It can be difficult to refer back. What I’ve done is totally rewritten the pattern and followed that, I find it much easier.

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Ravelry Link.

This is one of the most popular wool soaker knitting patterns, and for good reason. It’s simple, easy, and adjustable. The needle size requirements is based on one’s own gauge instead of picking needle sizes, which I appreciate.

I used German Twisted Cast On and German Shortrows. I used a crochet ribbing for the small cuffs as I dislike knitting that small.

Ultimately, I would give it a 5 star rating. The instructions are clear, there’s nothing unusual about the pattern, and it has more than 3000 projects on its ravelry page. It’s also one of the most commonly seen patterns in wool soaker groups, and the ribbing pattern is easily recognizable among various posts.

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I live in a rural area and I have to haul trash, so limiting the amount of dirty diapers I have to shove into my car and dump at the convenience center is ideal. It’s easier to wash the flats and have the greywater go water my trees.

I’d also really like to limit mine and my family’s exposure to PFAS. Many materials that claim to be free of PFAS are free of old PFAS, not the new ones.

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How could you tell how inbred a bird is? They’re all stupid.

– My grandma

Clan or rotational breeding ensures genetic diversity by transferring female quails (or any animal, essentially) from their parent Clan to another Clan while the males stay within their respective groups. This keeps inbreeding low while also producing replacement hens. After a certain number of years, inbreeding depression would still be an issue, but rotation through unrelated or distantly related populations of males would help. This also depends on the initial genetic diversity that the clans began with.

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