Free Pattern - Ami Balloons

I recently had a big amigurumi commission order from a lovely lady in Canada, and one of her requests was a batch of amigurumi balloons. She said she had seen some online, made with sticks as ‘stings’ - but they weren’t free standing and therefore required a pot to sit in or something to prop them up. I got my thinking cap on, and came up with these balloons - made with craft wire ‘string’ so they are free standing!

I liked the result so much I decided to put the pattern up on here for you guys - I hope you will enjoy it and find it useful!

The wire I used is 2mm craft wire, which can be bought from most craft stores, though I got this particular wire from a seller on Ebay. Craft wire is super cheap on eBay and comes in lots of different colours too. I found using 2mm thick wire was sturdy enough to hold the weight of the balloon, but also bendy enough to manipulate into a little stand (which you can make to look like the end of the ’string’ gathered on the floor) :)

The balloons pictured are about 2.5 inches tall, and the wire varying lengths from 4 - 8 inches long.

So here it is - Ami Balloons!

Ami Balloons

You Will Need:

. Crochet Hook (I used 3mm)

. Double Knit/Light WW/Sport Weight Yarn

. Embroidery Needle/Yarn Needle

. 2mm Craft Wire

. Wire Cutters

. Stuffing

Abbreviations

. Ch – Chain Stitch

. Sc – Single Crochet

. Inc (Increase) – 2 Sc into 1 St

. Dec (Decrease) – 1 Sc across 2 Sts

. St/Sts – Stitch/Stitches

. Slst – Slip Stitch

. ** – Marks a group of stitches to be repeated until the round is completed

Gauge

. No gauge, just keep your stitches nice and tight to avoid gaps in your work

Finished Size 

. 2.5inches/6cm tall (approx) using a 3mm hook and DK yarn

Other Info

. As this is amigurumi, work in continuous rounds; in a spiral. Don’t join at the end of a row; just keep going

. Use stitch markers or a piece of scrap yarn to mark the start of every round. Replace at the start of the next round as you go along. This will help you keep track of where you started, and saves a lot of time if things go wrong!

. Pattern is written in American Terms

. The number at the end of each round is the number of stitches you should now have

. I strongly recommend using a small hook i.e.- 3mm, to keep the proportions of the toy as they are in the pictures

Preparing the Wire

Before you start crocheting, I find it best to prepare the wire stand. 

Cut a length of wire about 5 - 6 inches longer than you would like the resulting ‘string’ to be. So if you’d like your ‘string’ to be 5 inches tall, you would cut about 10 -11 inches of wire. This is so you will be able to bend a stand from the excess wire at the bottom, and also insert the wire into the balloon body.

With a pair of pliers, or even just your hands; make a little L shape or small loop at one end of the wire. This should be only about 1/2 inch long/round. This will give the stuffing inside the balloon something to hold onto and stop it from falling out later :)

Ok, onto the crocheting!

Balloon Body

1. Ch 2; Sc 6 into 2nd Ch from hook, or Magic Ring 6 (6 Sc)

2. Inc around (12 Sc)

3. *Sc, Inc* around (18 Sc)

4. *Sc 2, Inc* around (24 Sc)

5. *Sc 3, Inc* around (30 Sc)

6. *Sc 4, Inc* around (36 Sc)

7. *Sc 8, Inc* around (40 Sc)

8 - 14. Sc around (40 Sc)

15. *Sc 8, Dec* around (36 Sc)

16. Sc around (36 Sc)

17. *Sc 4, Dec* around (30 Sc)

18. Sc around (30 Sc)

19. *Sc 3, Dec* around (24 Sc)

20. Sc around (24 Sc)

21. *Sc 2, Dec* around (18 Sc)

22. Sc around (18 Sc)

*Insert the bent/looped end of the Craft Wire now, and add stuffing around it. Continue stuffing the balloon as you close the remainder of the piece*

23. *Sc, Dec* (12 Sc)

24 - 25. Sc around (12 Sc)

26. Dec around (6 Sc)

27. Inc around (12 Sc)

28. Sc around (12 Sc)

*Bind Off, Weave In End*

Take a length of the same colour yarn (about 12 inches) and wraps it tight around the bottom/neck of the balloon to simulate a knot.

Bending the Stand

Hold your balloon and wire string up on a table/surface and judge how long you would like the string to be - starting from the bottom of the Balloon Body. With what’s left of the wire (there should be a few inches left…), bend it into a circular shape. I found wrapping the end of the wire around a round pot/container to be the easiest way to get a regular circle. 

Manipulate the wire so that the circular ‘base’ is flat on the table/surface, and the balloon is standing straight up from the base. Kind of like this... 

I added a little 'kick' out to help stabilise :)

You may need to play around a bit to get it to balance; but the general rule is the wider the circle, the sturdier the base will be. 

*You’re Done!*

I hope you had fun making your Ami Balloons! 

Any questions, suggestions or even if you spot a mistake in the above pattern, please feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to help :)

Happy Crocheting!