A podaegi (pronounced poe-DAY-gee) is an Asian style carrier that has been modified some in its use in the US. I have seen some fantastic photos of Korean mamas wearing authentic podaegis; they wear the straps horizontally over their breasts instead of over the shoulders how I have done it here. The baby rides a bit lower on their back as well.
I once talked to a Japanese lady working at the sushi bar at the grocery store, and she got all excited to see me wearing Jax in a baby carrier. She described her podaegi and was shocked I knew what it was. She had kept the podaegi she used with her daughter, and was about to be able to use it with her granddaughter, as her daughter was about to have a baby.
This podaegi began its life as a woven wrap, and was sewn into a podaegi by a conversion artist / company called Shiny Star Designs.
The wrap is Girasol Snowflame, and combines coop blue stripes with warm orange and yellow stripes. Girasol is a brand of wrap made in Guatemala, still handwoven on older style looms, and woven mostly by men. They make many beautiful wraps, with maybe half of their weaves being various rainbow patterns. They are soft and supple even when new, which is rare for woven wraps. They have a basic cross twill weave, like the one I am wearing, and a diamond weave pattern. The weave is just a different pattern of how the threads come together.
Personally I have found Girasol twill to be slightly softer, slightly more slippery, slightly thinner, and the colors also seem more vibrant. The diamond weave is a bit thicker, more "grippy", and the colors a bit more muted. This is because the weave makes the weft threads (shorter distance across the fabric) show up more.
This podaegi has padded straps that are half the width of the original wrap. The padding is about twelve inches long, then the rest of the strap fans out to become unpadded wrap straps.
The body of the pod is called the "blanket." This was has a beautiful tropical scene embroidery on the hood that lays over the blanket. Traditional podaegis are made with short blankets for summer and long blankets for winter, so I was informed by my Japanese grandma friend at the grocery store. So the blanket portion is literally serving a purpose.
The straps are wrapped around the baby's body over and under the knees to create a "seat", just as you would with a woven wrap. The narrow straps mean that there is less fabric than you would have with the full width of a woven wrap, so I found it easier to wrap this around my body that a full wrap. The simple structure of the pod shape gave me some extra support.
The padding that Shiny Star Designs (SSD) uses in their shoulders is incredibly squishy and comfortable. I loved that about this pod. I also liked how I was able to get him up really high on my back so he could see over my shoulder. This pod blanket was the full width of the original wrap, so it was a bit too wide for my shoulders. It had a short blanket, which I liked because I don't care for the look of the blanket hanging down, so I tucked all the fabric up between our bodies when I made his "seat."
Since Girasol twill tends to be a bit "slippery", I found that once Jax was 24 lbs or so, I could no longer use Girasol carriers. The fabric would begin to loosen over time, which creates discomfort. My Girasol ring sling I could not use once he was about 20 lbs, because the fabric would gradually slip out through the rings. This isn't supposed to happen with ring slings, as the rings locking into place is part of the safety feature. It was a gradual slipping, fractions of an inch in a several minute time, maybe an inch in five to ten minutes, nothing that would make him just fall out. But enough that it made the ring sling not usable for a toddler. I kind of felt the same about this podaegi.
It has straight straps which many pods have angled straps at the junction where they attach to the body or blanket.
Overall I liked how I could get him high up on my back, and I liked combination of a bit of structure with simplicity of use. However, overall it is not my favorite carrier type I've tried, and I wouldn't own one again. This one I sold a while back.
The Girasol Snowflame wrap is one of my favorites though - I love the color combination!
I have wrapped this one with ruck straps, then a knotless finish (very similar to Tibetan). Since I don't like the tails of a knotless finish hanging down in front of me, I twisted them a few times and passed them under my arms, behind me, and tied under my son's bum. It was very comfortable to wear this way!
