Amigurumi balloon dog

By Teresa Alvarez (January 2013)

About copyright: It’s really something great when people like what I have designed.
You can sell the final item or whatever you like, but it would be nice to reference
where you found the pattern!
If there is anything you do not understand or there are any mistakes, please, send
me a message!

As you can see in the way I write, English is not my first language. So, you could
come across some mistakes and grammatical inconsistencies. Sorry and my
apologies!

Balloons always remind me of childhood and the shaped ones are specially
charming. I’m absolutely a disaster when it comes to shape balloons (to great
disappointment of my children). Now, they are happy because I found a way of
shaping balloons !!!! .

ABOUT YARN:
Any yarn would do nicely.
I’ve used a yarn from Pierrot: Kirakira kids (30gr=43m.) in blue.

ABOUT GAUGE:
It is not important, as far as you are consistent with your tension.

ABOUT HOOK:
It depends on the yarn. I’ve used a 3.5 mm hook. Remember that when making
amigurumis, stitches should be tight.

YOU WILL NEED:

 Yarn.
 Two black eyes (optional).
 Stuffing.
 Tapestry needle.

ABOUT CROCHET TERMS:

I’ve followed the US terminology.
Stitch: st
Chain: ch
Single crochet: sc
FLO: Front Loop Only
BLO: Back Loop Only
Sc2tog: decreasing two sc (i.e., 2 st become 1)

All the pattern is worked in spirals, so do not join at the end/beginning of a

row.
All the decreases are worked as invisible decreases.

Comments:
The dog can be crocheted in one piece, but then you have to twist it as with the real
balloon. As I’ve said I’m not good at it, so I’ve bluffed my way into balloon shaping!
There are four parts:
 - 2 sets of 2 legs
- 1 set of 2 ears.
- 1 set: tail, body, neck, muzzle

Let’s describe each part.

Legs (make 2 sets)

(stuff legs as you work)
Round 1: magic ring, 6 sc (alternatively, 2 ch and 6sc in 2nd ch from hook).
Round 2: 2sc in next 6 st, (12 sts)
Round 3: [2sc in next st, sc in next st] repeat 6 times (18 st)
Round 4: [2sc in next st, sc in next 2st] repeat 6 times (24 st)
Round 5-21: sc in each across (24 st)
Round 22: [sc2tog, sc in next 2st] repeat 6 times (18 st)
Round 23: [sc2tog, sc in next 1st] repeat 6 times (12 st)
Round 24: [sc2tog] repeat 6 times (6 st)
Round 25-30: sc in each across (6 st)
Round 31-54: repeat rounds 2-24
Fasten off and weave ends.

Ears (make 1 set)

(stuff ears as you work)
Round 1: magic ring, 6 sc (alternatively, 2 ch and 6sc in 2nd ch from hook).
Round 2: 2sc in next 6 st, (12 sts)
Round 3: [2sc in next st, sc in next st] repeat 6 times (18 st)
Round 4-15: sc in each across (18 st)
Round 16: [sc2tog, sc in next 1st] repeat 6 times (12 st)
Round 17: [sc2tog] repeat 6 times (6 st)
Round 18-19: sc in each across (6 st)
Round 20-36: repeat rounds 2-17
Fasten off and weave ends.

Tail, body, … (make 1 set)

(stuff toy as you work)
Round 1: magic ring, 6 sc (alternatively, 2 ch and 6sc in 2nd ch from hook).
Round 2-9: sc in each across (6 st)
Round 10: 2sc in next 6 st, (12 sts)
Round 11: [2sc in next st, sc in next st] repeat 6 times (18 st)
Round 12-25: sc in each across (18 st)
Round 26: [sc2tog, sc in next 1st] repeat 6 times (12 st)
Round 27: [sc2tog] repeat 6 times (6 st)
Round 28-30: sc in each across (6 st)
Round 31: 2sc in next 6 st, (12 sts)
Round 32: [2sc in next st, sc in next st] repeat 6 times (18 st)
Round 33: [2sc in next st, sc in next 2st] repeat 6 times (24 st)
Round 34-57: sc in each across (24 st)
Round 58: [sc2tog, sc in next 2st] repeat 6 times (18 st)
Round 59: [sc2tog, sc in next 1st] repeat 6 times (12 st)
Round 60: [sc2tog] repeat 6 times (6 st)
Round 61-62: sc in each across (6 st)
Round 63-83: repeat rounds 10-30
Round 84-101: repeat rounds 10-27
Round 85: (it’s just a half row …) [sc2tog] repeat 2 times (4 sts)
Round 86: 2sc in each st across (8sts)
Round 87: 2sc in each st across (16 sts)
Fasten off and weave ends.

Finishing: sewing parts

Look at the picture:

Place legs on top of body as in the picture.

Sew some (tight) stitches between these two points
Repeat for the front legs.
I’ve also sewn some stitches between the legs, so the dog stands up better.

Now, the ears:

Put the ears below the neck and muzzle and sew some stitches between these two
points:
Finally, if desired sew some eyes!