Wool wraps, Swell Octarine Seafoam review and a bit of spam :)

Okay, so I'll admit - I was a bit slow to jump on the wool bandwagon. About a year ago I borrowed a (newish, not broken in) Grizedale and found it a little bit prickly, and too warm for me. I figured - being that wool isn't easy care and was uncomfortable for me, I'd just not bother with it. There was the ever present fear of "felting" and ruining an expensive wrap, so why bother?

The blends of lighter blues make for almost a "painted" look.

I regret this now. So much wasted time.

I live in Florida, where even now in early April the parking lot temperature was an actual 104f, the temperature where my skin starts melting off of my body. At these temperatures, not even the thinnest linen can make extended ups "comfortable", and the idea of wearing a thick woolie seems like the worst idea ever, right?

You can practically see the heat in this picture. 104 degrees. Sigh.

Well, not really. Turns out, wool is actually *really* pretty great in the heat.

Octarine just glows! 

I'm reviewing Swell Seafoam, which is a Cotton/Wool/Linen blend - thicker in hand, with quite a lot of cush and delicious texture. I bought Swell on a whim with the discount code last month, snagging what was probably the last 7 in the shop. When it arrived, it was quite rough and prickly in it's loom state. I'd played with one before, so I knew to expect the soft snuggly cushiness once it broke in, but I hadn't counted on how well it would handle the heat. After just 2 washes and a few evenings of snuggles it was broken into cushy snuggly butter. I've had other woolies take much longer to break in, so this was a really nice surprise!



At first, Swell was a bit exhausting to wrap my toddler with. Same deal as any heavier wrap, where it's just a lot of fabric to manipulate. As it broke in though, it started to glide into place and make for a really pleasant wrap-job. My go-to carry is a double-hammock with a CCCB, and Swell makes it  comfortable and easy every time!

Toddler prison! Nah, he wasn't exactly asking for down...

We've had temperatures in the 80's and 90's this week and I've worn my size 7 most days. I'm 6.5 months pregnant, and even I've finally come around to wool *actually* being a realistic warm weather option.

Ah, the glorious Florida sun. Baking, boiling sun.

Both Remy and I sweat a lot, making thick or dense wraps of any blend a sticky prospect, but almost every Fispi woolie has actually been thinner in hand than some of the thicker linen or hemp blends. Wool has the added bonus of helping regulate our temperature - it wicks sweat away, helping our skin stay cooler than if we were just sitting in it. Swell, along with Grizedale and Elven all even have a bit of linen thrown in to help with support and breathability!

I got some sun, which is basically every day here.

I've always found Merino blends to be plenty supportive, with little to no dig. The wool adds such a nice cushiness, and they've all been totally squish to toddler worthy once broken in. Some are quite a lot thinner(crystalline, Elven, etc) and some are more medium range. They all fluff up quite a lot, which isn't a bad thing to me... they're more fluffy than dense, making them more friendly in the heat than other thick wraps like Sylvan or Trinity.

Guest appearance from Delph - my current go-to merino/cotton.

So, to wrap things up(heh) - Swell: soft, cushy, supportive, and med/thick... still being really great in the heat, as odd as that might seem! Minimal prickle even at first, and softens up almost immediately with less breaking in than you'd expect. Totally squish to toddler friendly, and absolutely gorgeous colors.
 

4 month old

22 month old - 30 lbs

Woolies in general: Can be prickly at first, but worth the time and effort it takes to break them in! Wash in vinegar, and don't fear the washer! Fispi wool is relatively easy-care, and it's so good! Bouncy, cushy, supportive, and felting isn't something worth worrying overly about!

If you haven't watched this already, the Firespiral ladies made a video a while ago discussing the concerns around felting wool, and it really eased a lot of my worries. My usual routine with new woolies is to pop it in the washer on delicate or wool setting, run it twice, then into the dryer on extra-low heat until damp. I've never had any issues with felting, and it helps break in and fluff up that lovely wool!

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiPhC96wlV0&t=616s

~So much love here for wool~