I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but this is how I did it. Last weekend I tie-dyed 24 new infant prefold diapers I got for our impending arrival. Yes, I know #2 isn’t slated to make an arrival until December, but I wanted to start getting ready.
Materials:
- 24 (2 dozen) infant Indian prefold diapers, purchased on ebay from granitesmith. Cost $37.98 (not including shipping).
- 1 “serious starter” tie-dye kit from Dharma Trading. $23.95 (not including shipping).
Reasons for choosing what I did:
- I chose the diapers I did because we like prefolds for babies. Babies are constantly doing their, uh, thing, and this is an economical and easy way to get started on cloth until they slow down in growth and can have some serious use out of other fancier schmancier diapers (goodmama, I’m looking at you!). Plus, they’re durable and can take a beating, and can be used for years after the diapers are done with their intended purpose. Score.
- Procion dyes - I was looking for something with a good reputation and that would be good for cotton. And they were fairly cheap in price. I can dig it.
Preparing the diapers
Before I started the dying process, I prepped the diapers by washing them in hot with a bit of detergent, and drying them on hot as well - I did this a few times until they were fluffy. The washing releases the oils that are a natural part of cotton. Here is a picture showing prepped and unprepped diapers. The unprepped are the ones completely flat.
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I wrote a book review at my spiffy new review blog - here. Please take a look and let me know what you think!
Danville - twelve years ago today. What a different life that was. Still miss you, Danville.
As long as there are products like The Mom’s Ultimate Family Organizer, the harder it will be to force equality among most parenting relationships about whose responsibility it is to maintain and keep up a family (here’s a hint: it’s not just Mom). It will be harder for women who choose to work outside the home, it will be harder for men who choose to stay at home and babywrangle, it will be harder for everyone.
Can we quit with the gender stereotyping? Why can’t a family have their own organizer? Why can’t this be a shared or distributed responsibility? Why are people buying this crap?
A list.
- This has been a quiet weekend, mostly! Yesterday I took Matthew out to San Francisco to pick something up at work and we ate breakfast together - just the two of us. It was fun, until it was time to leave and Matthew ran away from me but luckily Mama has +2 SPEED and so I caught him, to his great dismay.
- I had a pedicure and manicure yesterday, which is one of those things I always feel terribly guilty about getting, but I always enjoy the results of.
- This morning I stretched funny and tweaked a nerve in my neck and can’t untweak it. I hate that!
- I also hate falling down the stairs - which I did as we were trying to get to the farmer’s market with Clio and Lara and Matthew. Oy. My right butt cheek feels like it has its own butt right now and my elbow is very sore.
I think that is about exciting as I like to get over a weekend. Ow.
1 year ago today: JoJo.
5 days ago: Grandma.
2 days ago: Gran-Gran (one of Matthew’s daycare providers)
I am at my limit.
it really does seem like you’re at the edge of the world.
Grandma died today, 6AM eastern time. She was with my mother, sleeping peacefully. We tried hard to get back east, but the prices of tickets combined with fewer flights meaning more packed trips meant nothing was to be found.
I really wish I were home.
I am feeling less funky, which is a good thing, I think. I spent a couple of days brooding, which is to be expected, given a hectic work schedule, and a hectic year in general. Josh has challenged me to come up with concrete ways to move my life in a way I want to move it, and I’m still thinking on that - but just that challenge seems to have changed my outlook. Tomorrow I have a professional development session with one of my colleagues - to talk about my emotional competency. If he’d asked me what I thought my emotional competency was Tuesday morning, it would have hovered somewhere around -4.
