Un-Poppable Balloon

This year my son decided he wanted to be Georgie from Stephen King’s It.  Great!  Another easy costume to pull together!  I had originally thought to make a paper mache balloon for him to carry (a real helium balloon was just asking to get let go and I so didn’t want to deal with that breakdown).  Then I got more and more afraid that he would drop it and break it or that I wouldn’t be able to hold the balloon upright without making a hole in it… so I decided just to go ahead and make one!  Of course there wasn’t a pattern readily available because how many people think to make a large balloon out of crochet?  So, here’s my It balloon pattern…. written as a amigurumi style pattern.

Note: This balloon is big.  Like adult head size. You could decrease the amount of increase rounds then decrease the sc and decrease, sc rounds by the exact same and it will work out fine.

Note:  As I was making this it made me think that this would be awesome in blue or pink for a baby gift…

G hook or whatever you usually use to keep the polyfil from showing
worsted weight yarn in color of choice, I used red that I had in my stash (which feels like some scratchy Red Heart basic) and white for the lettering
polyfil
dowel of whatever length you want
Duck Tape (I had dark blue and not black so I just used that.  Wrapping it around the dowel helps with the stability)
Super Glue (to keep the balloon from sliding)
option red ribbon (I plan on doing this after we use it for Halloween just in the attempt to keep at least one thing off his floor)
6sc in magic circle
*inc* around
*inc, sc* around
*inc, 2 sc* around
*inc, 3 sc* around
*inc, 4 sc* around
*inc, 5 sc* around
*inc, ,6 sc* around
*inc, ,7 sc* around
*inc, ,8 sc* around
*inc, ,9 sc* around
*inc, ,10 sc* around
*inc, ,11 sc* around
*inc, ,12 sc* around
*inc, ,13 sc* around
*inc, ,14 sc* around
*inc, ,15 sc* around
sc around for 15 rounds
*dec, 15 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 14 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 13 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 12 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 11 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 10 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 9 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 8 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 7 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 6 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 5 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 4 sc* around
sc around
Make sure you go ahead and stuff the balloon and insert the dowel.  Try to get the dowel in just under a little bit of stuffing at the top of the balloon.  Stuff around the dowel… The next few rows you will work around the dowel closing in the balloon and keep stuffing as you go.  It’s awkward, but it works.
*dec, 3 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 2 sc* around
sc around
*dec, 1 sc* around
sc around
dec around
sc around
sc around
bind off, weave in end
This is where the super glue comes in.  Drop a few drops to where you closed in. This keeps the balloon from sliding off the dowel.
There you have it.  A big balloon that won’t pop!
Mad Hooking!

Coraline Gloves

As my daughter decided to dress up as Coraline this year for Halloween. I was thrilled! Not only have we always loved the movie, but it is an easy costume to pull together. Though she mentioned she wanted some gloves like the ones from the movie. I originally thought it would be no problem. The movie has been out for a while, I won’t have a problem finding the pattern. Yeah, in part I could… for knitting. Now if I even attempted to knit these she might get them in a few years. So, here’s my humble attempt to recreate them in crochet.

Size I hook (now, I do tend to crochet a bit tight as some others have pointed out. These gloves are meant to fit what I would consider a small/medium woman.)
worsted weight yarn in the colors of your choice/ I used orange, medium gray, olive green and a yellow green that was in my stash… great time to stash bust!

Notes:
Note on sizing. This pattern worked for me to make my daughter a pair of gloves. I tried them on her multiple times, much to her annoyance. She does have small woman size hands. They would never have fit my hands. NEVER. I also don’t know how well they would fit a smaller child since I don’t have one to try them on. This was my first foray into making gloves honestly.
Note on color changes. I found it easier to change colors and then let the ends fall to the FRONT of your work. You so don’t want to have to try and turn the glove inside out to sew in the ends later. I didn’t carry the yarn as I usually would because I was afraid of any extra loops for fingers to get caught on. Most likely just my mind.
Note on fingers. When pulling up the yarn to start another finger I found that if I left an extra long beginning ‘end’ then it made it easier to sew the webbing of the fingers together later.
Make two, they are interchangeable on the sides… or make one. Who am I to tell you what to do?

Cuff:
RND 1: Starting with orange, 25 fsc (foundation single crochet or ch 25 and a round of sc), sl st to join. This measured 8″.
RND 2: ch 1(doesn’t count for a stitch), hdc around, sl st to join
RND 3: change to yellow green, ch 1, fphdc (front post half double crochet x2 stitches, bphdc (back post half double crochet) x2 around and ends with a single fphdc and sl st to join
RND 4: ch 1, fphdc in fphdc, bphdc in bphdc, end with single fphdc and sl st to join
RND 5-6: change to olive green and repeat RND 4
RND 7: change to orange and sc around, sl st to join
RND 8: ch 1, inc (increase), 1 sc in next 10 sc, inc in next 2 sc, 1 sc in next 10 sc, inc in next 2 sc, sl st to join
RND 9-10: change to gray and sc around then sl st to join
RNDS 11-12: change to orange and sc around then sl st to join
RNDS 13-14: change to olive green, ch 1 and sc around then sl st to join
RNDS 15-16: change to yellow green, ch 1 and sc around then sl st to join
RND 17: change to olive green, ch 1 and inc, sc 14, inc, sc to end, sl st to join
RND 18: ch 1, sc in next 14 sc, ch 6 and skip the next 6, sc to the end, sl st to join
RND 19: change to orange, ch 1, sc in next 14, sc in the next 6 ch, sc to the end, sl st to join
RND 20: ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RND 21: change to yellow green, ch 1, sc next 12, dec (decrease), sc in next 5, dec, sc to the end, sl st to join
RND 22: ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RND 23-24: change to orange, ch 1, sc around, sl st to join

PINKIE:
RND 1 – change to olive green, ch 1, 1 sc in next 7 sc, ch 3, sl st to first sc of this round
RND 2 – ch 1, sc in next 7 and in each ch, sl st to join
RNDS 3-5: change to yellow green, ch 1 and sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 6-8: change to gray, ch 1 and sc around, sl st to join
RND 9: ch 1, dec x5, sl st and cut yarn leaving a long end to weave through last stitches to pull close

RING FINGER
Using olive green pull up a loop in the last worked stitch from the pinkie, the 7th stitch from the beginning, then pull up another stitch immediately in the 8th stitch then pull through both loops on the hook.
RND 1 – Ch 1, sc in the 8th, 9th, and 10th st, ch 3, 1 sc in the third st from the baby finger on the other side of glove and the next stitch. Dec from the 3rd stitch and the first st of the backside of the pinkie, ch 3, sl st to join(make sure it is to the top of the first stitch and not the first loop)
RND 2 – ch 1, sc in each st and ch around, sl st to join
RNDS 3-5: change to olive green and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 6-8: change to gray and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 9-11: change to orange and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RND 12: ch 1, *dec, sc* x4, sl st to join
RND 13: ch 1, dec around, sl s to join leaving a long end to close

MIDDLE FINGER
Using olive green pull up a loop in the last worked stitch from the pinkie, the 10th stitch from the beginning, then pull up another stitch immediately in the 11th stitch then pull through both loops on the hook.
RND 1 – Ch 1, sc in the 11th, 12th, and 13th st, ch 3, 1 sc in the third st from the ring finger on the other side of glove and the next stitch. Dec from the 3rd stitch and the first st of the backside of the ring finger, ch 3, sl st to join(make sure it is to the top of the first stitch and not the first loop)
RND 2 – ch 1, sc in each st and ch around, sl st to join
RNDS 3-5: change to olive green and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 6-8: change to gray and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 9-12: change to orange and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RND 13: ch 1, *dec, sc* x4, sl st to join
RND 14: ch 1, dec around, sl s to join leaving a long end to close

INDEX FINGER
Using olive green pull up a loop in the last worked stitch from the middle finger, then pull up another stitch immediately in the next stitch then pull through both loops on the hook.
RND 1 – Ch 1, sc in next 4, inc, sc in next 3, Dec from the next stitch and the first st of the backside of the middle finger, ch 3, sl st to join(make sure it is to the top of the first stitch and not the first loop)
RND 2 – ch 1, sc in each st and ch around, sl st to join
RNDS 3-5: change to olive green and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 6-8: change to gray and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 9-11: change to orange and ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RND 12: ch 1, *dec, sc* x4, sl st to join
RND 13: ch 1, dec around, sl s to join leaving a long end to close

THUMB
Join olive green at the first skipped stitch for the thumb.
RND 1 – ch 1 and sc in the next 6 of the skipped stitches. Place hdc dec using the st on each side of the ‘V’ of the thumb, space 6 sc across the back of the ch, hdc dec in the ‘V’ then sl st to join


RNDS 2-4: change to orange, ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 5-7: change to yellow green, ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RNDS 8-9: change to orange, ch 1, sc around, sl st to join
RND 10: ch 1, *dec, sc* x4, dec, sl st to join
RND 11: ch 1, dec around, sl st to join leaving a long end to close

Now do a sc round at the bottom/beginning of the glove to make it look more finished. I do prefer to crochet in the second available hole down, not what would be the back of the chain.


Go put on a good show that you enjoy and get to weaving in the ends and complaining how much they better love these gloves and never want to go without them….
Don’t forget to sew the webbing together. Else that’s exactly where they are going to stick their fingers then look at you wondering what’s wrong and you are going to look at them swearing you thought they were smarter than that.
That’s it then.

Mad Hooking!