Monthly archive for March 2016

Me?  Personally I don’t find chocolate remotely despicable but neither do my teenagers so I have to resort to hiding what I consider to be “mine”.  This Minion is helping me out.  I’ve told the teens that he’s a crochet hook holder but actually he’s hiding my chocolate egg in there – shush, don’t tell them!

You could use him as a crochet hook holder (though you’d have to add a little circle of fabric inside the top and bottom of the container to stop the hooks doing what they’re good at and hooking themselves to your Minion!)  or a holder for anything else you could think of come to that – I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s very obliging.  Perhaps you could add a crocheted strap so that he becomes a “basket” for collecting eggs on a Easter Egg Hunt.  I’m sure he’d love that!

If you’d like to hook up your own character (maybe one in purple?!) I’m writing out the instructions over the next few posts.  It’s not a tutorial on how to crochet, just on how to make the little yellow and blue dude.

To make your character you’ll need:
4 and 5mm hooks
DK yarn in Yellow, Blue, Black, Silver Grey, Cream and Brown
2 small blue buttons
Small amount of toy stuffing for legs
Small piece of cardboard for feet
2 empty 2 litre water bottles (or pop/soda bottles) ready to be “upcycled”

I’d love to see your character and especially what you’ve hidden in him so please feel free to share a photo over on our Facebook page.  Oh! And don’t forget to name him!  Mine’s called “Phil” ‘cos you can “fill” him with anything you like 😉

Here are the instructions for “Day 1”

Day 1 – Lower Body Section

Just a little note:  I’m based in the UK and my abbreviations are all written using UK crochet terminology.

To make your character you’ll need:
4 and 5mm hooks
DK yarn in Yellow, Blue, Black, Silver Grey, Cream and Brown
Small amount of toy stuffing for legs
Small piece of cardboard for feet
2 empty 2 litre water bottles (or pop/soda bottles)

Abbreviations in UK terms (bracket indicates US term)
ch – chain
ss – slip stitch
dc – double crochet (US single crochet)
htr – half treble (US half double treble)
tr – treble (US double crochet)
st – stitch
tog – together

Finished size: approximately 9″/23cm tall

Tension: 3.5sts and 4 rows = 1″/2.5cm using 2 strands DK yarn and a 5mm hook.

Instructions

Lower Body

Using 5mm hook and 2 strands of Blue, work 2ch

Round 1 – 6dc into 1st ch

Round 2 – 2dc into each dc x 6 (12sts)

Round 3 – (1dc, 2dc into next st) x 6 (18sts)

Round 4 – (2dc, 2dc into next st) x 6 (24sts)

Round 5 – (3dc, 2dc into next st) x 6 (30sts)

Round 6 – 2dc, 2dc into next st, (4dc, 2dc into next st) x 5, 2dc (36sts)

Round 7 – (5dc, 2dc into next st) x 6 (42sts)

Round 8 to 12 – work 5 rounds of 42dc

Fasten off and work in any loose ends.

Back Bib

Using 5mm hook and 2 strands of blue, attach to front loop of any stitch on last round of Lower Body.

Row 1 – 1ch, 1dc into front loop of same st, also working into the front loops work a further 9dc, turn (10sts)

Row 2 to 6 – 1ch, 10dc, turn

Strap

Row 7 to 26 – 1ch, 1dc, turn

Fasten off, join yarn to opposite end of bib and repeat rows 7 to 26

Fasten off and work in any loose ends.

Front Bib

Repeat rows 1 to 6 of Front Bib leaving a gap of 11 stitches from Back Bib.

Fasten off and work in any loose ends.

Upper Body

Using 5mm and 2 strands of yellow, attach to back loop of any stitch behind back bib on round 12.

Round 1 – 1ch, 1dc into same st, 1 dc into back loop of each of the remaining 41sts

Round 2 to 16 – Work a further 15 rounds of 42dc

Insert bottle and mark around the point where the crochet stops.

Remove bottle and cut just below the mark.

Round 17 – Going back to the crochet work 1dc into back loops of each stitch on next round (42sts)

Round 18 to 30 – Work a further 13 rounds in yellow

Insert cut off section of bottle.

Now to decrease:

Round 31 – (dc2tog, 5dc) x 6 (36sts)

Round 32 – (dc2tog, 4dc) x 6 (30sts)

Round 33 – (dc2tog, 3dc) x 6 (24sts)

Round 34 – (dc2tog, 2dc) x 6 (18sts)

Round 35 – (dc2tog, 1dc) x 6 (12sts)

Round 36 – dc2tog x 6 (6sts)

Fasten off and work in any loose ends and push inside bottle.

The next post will tell you how to make his Head!