My 2-Eyed Minion Step by Step Tutorial

I made this Minion based on a pattern designed by Stephanie Lau which appears on her blog AllAboutAmi.  She also has step by step instructions and photos but I made a few variations in the:

BIB

BUM SEAM

BOOTS & LEGS

and TROUSERS

As Stephanie has generously shared her pattern, I would also like to share my tutorial here:)

HEAD, BODY & GOGGLES
I followed Stephanie's pattern from R1 to R9 to increase to 63 st.  Because I wanted a shorter Minion, I sc'd around only 'til row 50 and started to decrease from there.  You can keep crocheting 'til you reach your desired height knowing it takes 7 rows to decrease and close.  Don't forget to put the hair in before you stuff and close.

I put glue on the tips of the Minion's hair to stop the yarn fraying.  Before finishing the body, I made the goggles so I could put them on to gauge how tall I wanted the Minion to be, where to put his smile and where his arms and trousers should start.  I followed the original pattern for the goggles but added 1 row to the side details to make them easier to fold and sew on.  I also inserted some craft wire in the goggles so they would keep their shape, making sure I stuffed the body just enough for a snug fit so I don't stretch the goggles out of shape.  Stephanie's pattern for the goggles is brilliant!

BOOTS & LEGS
To make sure my Minion could stand on his own, I made his boots like baby booties with a double sole. I also changed color from black to yellow instead of blue to go from boots to "Minion skin".  Just for the purposes of this tutorial, I used grey for the boots instead of black just so the stitches may be easily seen.  But Minion's shoes are made in black.

SOLES (make 4) I sl st (slip stitch) into the ch1 from R2-4.  Watch your tension. If your stitches are too tight, your soles won't stay flat and may start to curl in.
Ch 6
R1 (start in 2nd ch fr hook) inc, sc 3, make 3 sc in the last chain, (working on the other side of chain now) sc 4. (12) sl st into 1st sc, ch 1 and mark the ch 1 
R2 [sc 1, inc ] 6x (18) sl st into the ch 1 of the previous row and ch 1 
R3 [inc, sc 2] 6x (24) skip the last (extra) stitch, sl st into ch 1 of the previous row and ch 1 
R4 inc 4, sc 5, inc 4, sc 1, inc 3, sc 6, inc (36) skip the last (extra) stitch, sl st into ch 1 of the previous row and ch 1 

To finish and close, cut yarn leaving a tail about 1.5" and pull through loop.  Thread the tail under both loops of the 2nd stitch from your last sc.  Close the loop by threading back through the center of the previous sc.  You won't notice where you started and where you ended!  And even if it ends up a bit messy, you won't notice when you use black yarn. Just make sure you have a total of 36 stitches.  If you're making a smaller and skinnier Minion, you can stop at R3 with 24 st to make smaller boots.

Take 2 soles.  Don't worry if they're not exactly the same size.  The stitches will eventually line up.  Put them together with the heels toward you and the right sides facing out.  You can hide all the extra hanging tails in between.  For the purposes of this tutorial, I used yellow yarn to stitch the 2 soles together so the chains can be easily seen.  

First, take the center of the heels and pull your yarn under all 4 loops - that's 2 from each sole.  You'll have 1 loop on your hook.   Then, insert your hook under the next set of loops, pick up the yarn and pull through the loop to make your 1st stitch.  Insert your hook under the next set of loops making sure you get under all 4 loops, pick up the yarn and pull through.  Keep doing this going around the sole.  The stitches facing you should look like chains. The side facing away from you will be the bottom of the boots and they'll have running stitches. 

You can tuck the tail in before you end this row.  You'll finish and close this row much like you did with the soles.  You should have 36 chains total.  Again, don't worry too much if it gets messy in the end as long as you have 36 chains.

Let's go back to grey yarn to make the rest of the boot.  Again, starting at the center of the heel, insert your hook under the 2 loops of the chain, pick up the grey yarn and pull through the chain.  You'll have 1 loop on your hook.  Yarn over, pull through the loop, insert your hook into the same (center) chain, yarn over, pull though.  You'll have 2 loops on your hook.  Yarn over and pull through 2 loops to make your 1st sc.  Then sc all around.  This is R1.  End with a sl st into sc #1.  Ch 1.  Mark the ch1.

R2 sc around (36) skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round and ch1.R3 sc 8, [sc 6, dec 4x, sc 6] in BLO (back loop only), sc 8 (32) skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round. Ch1.
R4 dec, sc 12, dec 2x, sc12, dec (28) skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round. Ch1.
R5 sc 10, dec 4x, sc 10 (24) skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round.  Ch1.

R6 sc around (24) change to yellow before your last yarn over so you pull through with yellow yarn.  skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round. Ch1.
R7 sc around in BLO (24) skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round. Ch1.
R8 - 10 sc around (24) skip last st, sl st into ch1 of previous round. Ch1.

In the end you should have a fairly even color change.  You can always cover any mess with the trouser legs later on :)  Finish and close R10 like you did with the soles.  Go ahead and make your 2nd boot. Try to keep the same amount of tension so your boots and legs end up about the same size.  Sew the boots and legs to the body.  I like to use stitches that go straight down and diagonally to make them look like crochet stitches.

PLACE YOUR MARKERS
Put the goggles on your Minion and mark where you want his smile, where his arms should go, where you want his trousers to start and how high his bib should go.

OVERALLS
While the original pattern starts at the bottom and increases up to the waist part of the trousers, I started at the waist and decreased.  
Ch 71.  Sl st to ch1 to make a circle.  Ch1
At the end of each round, skip the last stitch, sl st in ch1 and ch1 again as you did with the sole and boots.  Doing this will create the bum seam.  Make sure to keep count of your stitches.
R1 - R8 sc around (70)
R9 sc 4  dec [sc8, dec] 6x, sc4 (63)
R10 [sc7, dec] 7x (56)
R11 sc3, dec [sc6, dec] 6x, sc3 (49)
R12 [sc5, dec] 7x (42)
At this point, you can slip the trousers on.  You should stop decreasing at the point where the trousers touch the legs.

Pin the trousers on to the body making sure the bum seam is aligned down the center of the back.  the seam shifts to the left due to the decreases so pin it in place as straight as you possibly can.

R13-14 sc around (42) or sc til you can see only 1 row of yellow on the legs.  In my case, it took only 2 rows.
Next, ch enough to join to the the middle front part of the trousers.  It's up to you how tight or loose you want your trouser legs to be.  Length of chain will also depend on the kind of yarn you use.  

You can join anywhere and sc around to make the right trouser leg.

Sc continuously around the left leg until you reach the desired trouser length.  You'll need to sc on one side of the chain making sure you leave the other side of the chain for the right trouser leg.  Count your stitches at the end of the first round and try to make the same for the right leg.  Mine didn't come out even.  I think the right leg had a couple more stitches but in the end it really isn't very noticeable.  Finish and close as usual.

BIB
I'm not very fond of the look of turned work.  So instead of turning at the end of each row, I switched to my left hand and crocheted left to right and then switched back to my right hand to make the bib.  I did the same with the back.  It took 9 rows to reach my mark.

Make the pocket, straps, arms and gloves following Stephanie's pattern.   Since my Minion is shorter, I made less rounds to make the arms.  I also made more rounds in the gloves to make them longer and come higher up the arms, and the fingers 1 round longer.  I found a Gru logo online, used black and light blue felt and fabric glue.

Add the eyes and mouth as you wish.  I used felt circles in white, brown and black to make my Minion's eyes.  I added little white dots to the eyes because without them, he looked like a zombie staring blankly at me.

So here is my finished Minion! Because of his double sole boots and big feet, he can easily stand on his own.  If you lift the hem of his trousers, you can see his yellow legs (tee hee hee). Unfortunately because of how the overalls are made, they will never come off like Stephanie's unless you make his trouser legs loose enough for his feet to pass through or make his feet smaller.

I hope you've found my instructions and photos helpful.  You are free to share them but please, link back to this blog should you wish to share any of my photos or instructions. Again, I'd like to thank Stephanie of AllAboutAmi for sharing her pattern and inspiring me to experiment and share :)