Knit a Hot Air Balloon

I’m fully willing to admit that the headline on this post sounds weird. And maybe it is a little weird to knit a hot air balloon.

But you know what? After seeing this pattern from Butterfly Love1 on Etsy, I kind of want to knit a hot air balloon.

These would be super cute in a nursery or kid’s room, a playroom, a teacher’s classroom (especially and art teacher, or in the library, or really anywhere that kids might be).

And honestly kids aren’t the only ones who deserve whimsy in their lives, so if after seeing this pattern you kind of want to knit a hot air balloon for yourself, too, I give you permission to do so if you need it.

The pattern is knit flat in stockinette stitch, and I’d guess it uses sock yarn by the size of the knitting needles called for. Which is great because you can easily make a striped balloon that is both adorable and a great use of all your leftover yarn from your socks and other projects.

These balloons even have a little basket made out of a stack of buttons to make it look like a hot air balloon and not just a regular, earth-bound balloon. Though of course those would be cute, too.

One of the comments on the pattern says this comes out big, but the pattern description doesn’t specify what size it is supposed to be. It might still be fun to use bigger yarn and make a huge balloon. They could also maybe be used as pillows in addition to having them hanging from the ceiling.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, having made one, you will find all sorts of reasons you need to knit more.

You can grab the pattern on Etsy. I’d love to hear about it if you make one!

[Photo: Butterfly Love1]

Next Pattern:

Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

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