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King Cole Pulls Patterns for Hooded Baby Sleep Bags

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Recent guidance from the UK Government Product Safety board called our various sleep bags, swaddles and hooded sleep sacks for being hazardous to babies. The report says “The sleep bag presents a serious risk of suffocation, overheating and death as it has a head covering.”

It notes that babies can overheat in the sleep bags, which is associated with SIDS, and the hood can cover their face and lead to suffocation. Products have been removed from Amazon listings in the UK as being in violation of the 2005 General Product Safety Regulations, and they have advised parents who own these types of products to stop using them. (They are still for sale in the United States and I assume elsewhere.)

Yarn company King Cole has responded to this report by announcing it is removing its knitting and crochet patterns for similar style bags from circulation and calling on yarn stores that might have printed patterns to destroy them.

King Cole said on Instagram that the patterns being recalled include 5766, 2766, 2823, 5000, 4534, 5945, 5603, 5972, and Aran Book 2. Some older patterns (such as 4672) may also be in circulation and should not be used. (One of the patterns is shown above; there are pictures of all of them in the Instagram post linked above.)

The company advises knitters and crocheters who have these patterns not to use them. If patterns were purchased, they can be returned to a King Cole stockist for a replacement pattern.

If you knit or crochet for babies (in the UK or anywhere else) it’s helpful to be aware of this guidance and consider it when making projects for little ones. If you want to knit a swaddle for a baby, make a sleep sack that slides over the body but doesn’t cover the head for safety. Likewise, if you have a little one in your household you might want to consider discontinuing use of these sorts of products to ensure your little one doesn’t get too hot at night.

[Photo: King Cole via Instagram]

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Comments

  1. If the sleep bags are used when you take baby out in the cold! Then I don’t see the problem as you would put a hat on!
    I would not use this type of sleep bag in the house it’s more for out door use.
    Most countries I know would use this for out door use. It all comes down to common sense and warning labels.

Have you read?

Christmas Stocking Knitting Patterns for Your Pets

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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