Crochet Baby Carrier For Baby Yoda/Grogu

I’ll start with the happy part-a pic of the finished carrier.

He looks very comfy!

Now I can tell you all about the attempts at making what I thought was going to be a simple sling. I mean look at it, it looks simple to me.

As usual, I started with an idea of what I wanted, and I let it marinate in my brain. In this case, I wanted a hands-free way of carrying Grogu around when I can finally go back to Disneyland. But first, did I want to carry him on my back like a backpack or in the front like a baby? In the front, definitely the front. I want to show him off, after all.

Next, I knew I didn’t want to cover up his little outfit that much. I had to think about what kind of contraption I wanted that would do that. I pictured a little basket with holes for his legs, but that would expose his legs and would scrunch up his robe (see? I was doing a lot of marinating). Anyway, I won’t bore you with too many details about all the designs I came up with and discarded, but I finally came up with an idea and got to work.

It’s pretty but too much red!

I chose red so it could match his Mickey ears hat and I thought the star-stitch would be pretty and sturdy. I made the entire cradle when I realized it covered too much of his outfit AND the red was too much red! I ripped it all back.

I went back to the drawing board (I don’t actually have a drawing board) and just thought about ideas for the next day. After discarding several of them, I settled with something that would go under his outfit instead. That way, it wouldn’t cover up his outfit. This involved coming up with ideas on how the straps would come out the back and up through his collar. Instead of using red again, I went with a color that was similar to his outfit.

I started by making him some underwear with reinforced holes in the front and back that would attach to straps. I made a separate front and back panel that I would connect with buttons or velcro. This would allow me to remove the carrier easily.

After I made the pieces, I didn’t like that idea anymore. It was too bulky and I was worried that straps coming out of the back might rip his outfit. But I didn’t want to start over, so I went back to the idea of having it on the outside, but having just on big hole for his legs to dangle from. I sewed up the sides of the panels and added more fabric to the sides at the bottom. This created a little basket instead of underwear.

I used plastic rings I had lying around for the holes.

The straps came next. I used old lanyards for the center (so the crochet wouldn’t stretch over time).

These are pretty darn sturdy!

I attached them to the cradle and I was finally pleased with my contraption. I still might add a strap across the back so the shoulder straps don’t slip off, but that may not be necessary. I’ll have to do a trial run around the house and see.

We’re both happy now!