Minion Lovey
Size 6 Double-pointed knitting needles
Size 8 Double-pointed needles
Size 8 circular needle (I used 16” length)
Yarn needle
About 1 ounce bright yellow yarn
About 3 ounces denim blue yarn
Small amounts of white and black yarn
Small black button or sew-on gemstone
Polyfill
The needle size / gauge aren’t all that important. I wanted
a tight knit for the head, so the stuffing wouldn’t show, and a looser knit for
the body, to make it more cuddly. I
think the body could have been done with size 9 or 10 needles too.
Start with eye (or eyes… you can make your minion either
way): (It’s easier to sew the eye on while you’re still working on the head,
but your needles will be busy later...so make the eye first.)
With white yarn and size 6 double-pointed needles, cast on 5
stitches, leaving about 6” of yarn at your starting point.
Round 1: Being careful not to twist your cast-on stitches,
join and knit each stitch (5 stitches)
Round 2: Increase in
each stitch (10 stitches)
Round 3: Change to gray yarn. Increase in first stitch, knit
next stitch. Continue around, increasing every other stitch. (15 stitches).
Bind off in purl, leaving 9” or so to sew on. Use starting
yarn to tighten up hole in center. Sew a small black button or sew-on gemstone
to center of eye.
Head:
With yellow yarn and size 6 double-pointed needles, cast on
8 stitches.
Round 1: Being careful not to twist your cast-on stitches,
join and knit each stitch (8 stitches)
Round 2: Increase in
each stitch (16 stitches)
Round 3: Increase in
first stitch, knit next stitch. Continue around, increasing every other stitch.
(24 stitches).
Round 4: *Increase in first stitch, knit 2 stitches* repeat
around (32 stitches)
Round 5: *Increase in first stitch, knit 3 stitches* repeat
around (40 stitches)
(It’s easier to take your beginning thread and tighten up
the hole in the middle before your tube gets too long… you might want to
tighten it up around this point.)
Round 6: *Increase in first stitch, knit 4 stitches* repeat
around (48 stitches)
Round 7: *Increase in first stitch, knit 5 stitches* repeat
around (56 stitches)
Round 6: *Increase in first stitch, knit 6 stitches* repeat
around (64 stitches)
Work 6 rows even in yellow
Work 2 rows in black
Work 10 rows even in yellow.
(After you do 4 or 5 of those rows, sew on the eye on the
black band, so that the eye covers where you changed color. When you get to the
end of the 10 rows, you can embroider on the mouth.).
Decrease row: *Knit 6, K2 together* repeat around
Knit one row even
Repeat decrease row
Using the size 8 circular needle, attach blue yarn
and pick up 48 stitches (you’re leaving your yellow stitches on the size 6
needles, but pulling up a blue stitch from each of the yellow stitches). Put point guards on the ends of the needle so
you don’t drop any blue stitches. You’ll finish up the yellow before you work
on the blue “skirt”.
Continue to work decreases on the head – by knitting 3
stitches, then knitting two together, until you have about 20 stitches left.
Fill head with polyfill. Keep on decreasing until you have 8 stitches. Cut
yarn, leaving about 5”. Thread yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight.
Tie off and weave in.
Transfer blue stitches to
double-pointed needles if your circular needle is too long to work with them. Figure out the center front of your work
(centered under the eye). Count off six stitches to one side of that and place
a marker. Place 3 more markers, each after 12 stitches.
Cuddly “skirt”
Each round: Knit around, increasing after each marker.
I did my increases by
picking up a stitch. I think it might look nicer if the increases were done by
a yarn-over. I’ll try that on my next lovey.
Just keep on knitting until the lovey is the desired length.
I had a 3.5 ounce skein of yarn and I kept going until I was close to running
out of yarn. The “skirt” on my lovey is about 8” long.
GRU logo:
With black yarn and size 6 needles, cast on 8 stitches. Work
in stockingnet stitch until you have a square. Cast off, leaving enough yarn to
sew on.
Using the chart below and white yarn, embroider the GRU G.
Sew logo onto front of lovey.
Using 2 or 3 strands of black yarn, pull a loop through at
the center of the top of the head. Pull the other end of the yarn through and
pull to tighten to make a top-knot of hair.
If you like a minion with spikey hair, you could tie a single strand of
yarn at a few locations at the top of the head. 
