Knitted Baby Doll Carrier
*Disclaimer: This knitting pattern is for a Baby DOLL carrier. It is not to be used as a carrier for a live baby.
I am the mother of an 11 and 7 year old and a 6 month old. When my baby was born, my husband and I made the decision to join the masses of baby-wearing mamas and papas all over the world. What does this mean? We did not buy an infant car seat that is a carrier – you know, the kind you pull in and out of the car every time you go somewhere. Instead we simply bought a regular convertible car seat and we take our daughter in and out of it every time we are out and about. We also very rarely use a stroller, unless we are taking walks around the block basically. So, for the last six months I have spent the majority of my time “wearing” our daughter. It has really been an amazing experience. She is a VERY happy baby and enjoys being close to mommy. Dad wears the carrier too, but more often than not, it is attached to me. If you would like an idea of why we made this decision and the benefits, there are tons of great websites around, like this one. Or, just Google it!
Each day I take my two older children to and from school. One of the highlights of my day is when I go to pick them up in the afternoon, wearing my daughter, of course. The mom’s hang out and talk and keep each other updated on our days and lives. I also have a sweet little friend who likes to hang out and talk with my baby and I. She is the four year old daughter of one of my friends and she LOVES my baby. She likes to talk and play with her and make her laugh. It is just one of those special little times that makes me smile and I know it brings some sunshine to all of our days.
The other day my four year old friend came to the school with her own little baby doll tucked in to her coat…JUST LIKE YOU AND YOUR BABY she said :o) It was positively adorable. Immediately I thought to myself that it would probably make her very happy to be able to wear her baby doll with a real wrap just like me! And what a fun knitting project for me to do! Below is the pattern I created for the wrap. It is a Mei Tai style wrap and the instructions to tie it are the same as theirs. I am SO HAPPY with the way it turned out. It fits my seven year old daughter perfectly, so it will probably be a little big for the four year old, but I don’t think it will be too bad.
As far as the sling I use: When our daughter was born we used the Sleepy Wrap (which is now the Boba and is essentially the same as the Moby). It was very easy to wrap my daughter and carry her everywhere we went. It is incredibly stretchy though, so as she got bigger we needed something with a little more support. We moved on to mostly the Ergo baby carrier. This one is better for the grab and go type of situation. So if you are worried about wrapping up your baby, maybe go more towards the Ergo type of carrier.
With no further ado, here is the pattern for the carrier!
Baby Doll Carrier
YARN
- 2 skeins, Loops and Threads Charisma Yarn, color: Holiday. 100% Acrylic Yarn, Bulky 5 weight 3.5 oz. skein/ 109 yds.
NEEDLES
- US 11 [8 mm] circular needle
- Tapestry Needle to weave in ends
GAUGE
- 3 sts = 1 inch in garter stitch (knit all stitches)
INSTRUCTIONS
- CO 154 sts
- Rows 1 – 8: K
- Row 9: BO 64 sts, K 26 sts, BO 64 sts; cut yarn and weave in ends
- Row 10: Rejoin yarn at end of 26 sts where you left off; K
- Row 11 – 60: K all sts
- Row 61: K 6 sts, BO 14 sts, K 6 sts
These two sets of 6 stitches are the beginnings of the shoulder straps. Pass one set of the 6 stitches onto a stitch holder to save for later. Working on the other set of 6 stitches:
- Knit all stitches until strap measures 36 inches. BO stitches and weave in ends. Repeat on the other set of six stitches.
Please note any mistakes in the pattern if you find any. Thank you.
Tags: baby carrier, knit
January 20th, 2013
How sweet! And, Keira is quite the little model!