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]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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