Baby Carrier Review 2: Snugbaby Mei Tai

On to the next review! When it got to the point that A felt like she constantly wanted to escape from the Close Carrier, I started looking for a mei tai. Fortunately a good friend was selling her one, so that decision was easy enough to make.

She'd bought a Snugbaby Mei Tai style baby carrier. It was black on one side, and a lovely burnt orange/red colour on the other. Quite a simple design, with no hood, and a base that was pitched as adjustable.

Mei Tais are asian style carriers which at their simplest are a panel of fabric with four straps coming off - two for tying round the waist, and two for going over your shoulders, round baby's back/bum, and back round again. They can be as simple as this or they can be as complex, luxurious and expensive as you like!

As you can see in the pic, one of the features of the Snugbaby Mei Tai is that only the centre section of the base is sewn to the waist strap. What I now know is that this means that this is only really suitable for small babies as it really reduces the amount of time that the baby can be carried with their legs in the comfy and supportive 'knee to knee' position.

However, that wasn't a problem until later. For many months in the spring of this year, this carrier served us splendidly. It was a spring full of random heatwaves, and the breathable cotton twill and slimline cut of the carrier meant that A was vastly happier in it. The straps were wide enough to be supportive, and I really liked how easy and quick it was to put on and off. I also liked how easy it was to wash and dry, and how small it folded up (with it's own little carry bag). Being a bit of a wallflower, I enjoyed the fact that it didn't shout "LOOK AT ME!" - I could wear it black-side out, and often people didn't even notice I was using a carrier.


Sadly by around 6 months old, my super-average 50th centile girl decided to start climbing the charts for both height and weight, and before I knew it her chunky legs were pushing the 'adjustable' sides of the base down and leading to some seriously leg-dangling situations. It was time to move on, but I certainly have a soft spot for this carrier. Knowing a little more now, maybe I would have invested in a Babyhawk or Hop-Tye, but we have many happy memories attached to our little Snugbaby.

FO: Super-cosy Handspun Earflap Hat

Of course, having finished some hanspun, I had to knit it up *immediately*.

I started with this pattern: Knitted Child's Hat as it seemed to have been designed for irregular, handspun type yarn.

However, on starting it, I realised I wasn't too keen on the style. Rather than individual ear flaps, it was actually one piece round the back, like a helmet. So I ripped back and started again, this time without the back section.



After knitting the main body of the hat and trying it on Miss A's noggin, I realised that it was on the small side. Clearly age 1-3 years isn't large enough (or perhaps my gauge was just completely off which, given the nature of my handspun, is entirely possible!). So I crocheted several rounds onto the brim to extend it, and then crocheted earflaps on, attaching braids at the end.



I don't know why I find it so much easier to improvise with crochet, it just feels like it grows more organically without needing to count rows, stitches etc.

It's seen a lot of use already, so I think I can count this one as a success! The addition of silk to the wool makes it incredibly warm yet soft.