The Sweet Pod pattern = awesome

Right in the midst of studying for my qualifying exams (that is the big oral exam for PhD students in humanities at Berkeley), I started to realize that my beloved Ergo carrier was becoming a huge pain in the rumpus and the back. Oliver was getting close to 4 months and ready to leave the infant insert behind but still a little too small to be in the carrier without. His increased mobility would cause sudden changes in my center of gravity. The result: neck aches, upper backaches and the ongoing fear that I would plunge or trip or what have you while front carrying.

My solution to this dilemma was the obsessive online searching for a pattern (with which I am sure fellow crafties can relate) that could replace my infant carrier. And then during a search on Etsy I came across it: the Sweet Pod pattern. I will not lie. I bought it instantly, partially due to the fact that it was too good to be true, partially for the instant gratification (it's a pdf via email delivery). The next day I printed it out and taped the pattern pieces together. Now I must add the caveat that I have been sewing since the age of 8, everything from quilts to formal dresses, and being pregnant has renewed my dormant sewing skills. But I noticed as I was putting the pieces together the sheer ingenuity of its layout and construction. Paging through the directions, I kept thinking to myself, so this is how good patterns are supposed to be.

I pushed on through to my exams and and passed (yippeee!) and was finally free to embark on my creative adventure. Being a quilter at heart, I decided to add some machine quilting to the front panel. The one hang-up was that I had never machine quilted before. I'm one of those old fashioned people that takes extreme pleasure in doing things "the old way"--big surprise I am in Medieval Studies--so I'd only ever quilted by hand before. It was okay, although next time I will splurge and get the tear away stabilizer instead of using waxed paper.

As soon as I began sewing, for once in my life I had this push to finish it to the end as quickly as possible. It took about 2 or 3 sittings (not too bad considering my little guy was about 4 months at the time and going through a sporadic growth spurt). I was so proud of it and myself when I was done, and I was thankful to the genius who drafted the pattern--Jessica Crocker.

Now for the experienced and inexperienced alike who are pregnant, have babies or even grandbabies, I'd recommend you try your hand at this pattern. You can purchase your own here.

I promise, you won't regret it and will want to spread the word to all crafty persons who have children in their lives.