Newly contemplating wool - please initiate me!

Firstly my apologies if this is the wrong place for this thread!

So I'm thinking of biting the bullet and trying wool, and I was hoping some more experienced mums might have time to answer a few questions!

I've worked out that acrylic wools can't be lanolised and are thus use-once-then-wash, whereas pure wool you treat with lanolin then use until stinky. (Please correct me if I'm wrong here!) I'm wondering about other yarn blends. Anybody know what would happen with a cotton/polyester blend? Could I use that like acrylic or is using a cotton-based yarn a supremely bad idea?

Also, I understand the logic behind gently washing things in wool wash or similar, but... what do you do if they get poop on them? I appreciate it might be unlikely in most people's experience, but my DD has a talent for sending it in unusual directions - she's managed to poop on *only* the underside of a fleece liner more than once, and last week she managed to poop into the pocket of a BG - so I wouldn't put anything past her!

Finally if anyone has any shortie or longie patterns they'd recommend, I'd be very grateful! I knit and crochet, doesn't have to be very simple but quick would be good - only reason I'm typing on the laptop without getting divebombed is cause she's asleep in the sling!

Thank you!

Wool is fab We have found it far better than pul wraps.

I wouldn't use cotton yarns as cotton soaks up wee (hence why it's used in nappies). Acrylic is and wool aren't as absorbent. We lanolise our woolies and then use until grubby/smelly. Sometimes I think they're starting to smell after a day but a good airing outside sorts it out. Wool is naturally antibacterial and the lanolin is the oils which have been previously stripped from the sheep's fleece. Lanolin stops the sheep from getting wet and cold so soaking woolies in the lanolin helps the wool to become more water resistant. It took me a while to get the quantities of lanolin right when I first started but I'm getting there now. It is also best to use handwash only yarn as superwash yarn will not take the lanolin as well. I have used superwash before and although it isn't as good as my handwash, it still works.

Eddie has thankfully never poo'd on his woolies but @Louise and @docmaggoo might be able to help there.

There's a sticky post with loads of patterns in the pure wool section on here. There's also a sticky for Joelis longies which is fab. I learnt to knit longies with this pattern. It's really descriptive and great until you've got the confidence to try some different ones. I also like the Snapdragon soaker. Again very quick and very descriptive.

I hope that helps slightly. My brain is slightly frazzled today.

A good rule of thumb is that if it is a material that you would have in a nappy (e.g cotton, bamboo) then you don't want it in a soaker.

Snapdragon soaker pattern is a free download & a great soaker to start with. Most people use it as their regular soaker pattern

I don't knit but only started using wool a few months ago & its brilliant. Can't believe i didnt know about it with my 1st child !