Tag Archives: amigurumi

It’s a bird…It’s a plane…It’s Superminion!

Following the popularity of the previous minions in my family, I wanted to make one for my sister too.  Her request was for a nerdy crossover minion, which prompted some fun research seeing all the amazing pictures people have done of minions as various film characters.  I decided to go for a very recognisable (and not overly complicated as I was a bit pushed for time) character, which also has a nice ring to it – Superminion!

Superminion

It was fun to get back to the design phase around how best to make his outfit.  In my first attempt I did all layers of the body (head, shirt, belt and pants) as stripes in one piece, but the belt looked more like a belly (bringing up visions of Homer Simpson instead of a superhero!) so I unpicked and just transitioned from shirt to pants and made a separate belt.  The cape took a bit of reworking to get the right shape, but I’m happy with the result.

Superminion side view

Superminion back view

I’m afraid I didn’t take a series of adventure shots of the minions this time, but here’s a few of the whole gang and of Superminion tackling some monsters!

All five minions

Superminion and Anna

Minions and Disney card

Superminion vs monsters

Superminion flying over New York

It’s a girl!

Having made minions for my dad and brother (here, here and here), I of course also had to make one for my mum.  Mum requested a girl minion, so meet Anna:

Anna minion front view

After a few discussions about how best to dress her, we agreed that she should wear the same practical clothing as the boys (don’t want her to miss out on any of the fun!).  So to give her a feminine touch, I sewed on some eyelashes and gave her long hair.  It was quite fun researching the different ways to create amigurumi hair.  I’m pleased with the option I went for.  It started out much longer and she got gradual hair cuts until it felt about right.

Anna minion side view

Otherwise, making her was the same as the other minions so I’ll just leave you with photos from the minions’ trip to a nearby country house:

Minions and mushroom

Minions at Uppark

Minions on a wire

Minions in sculpture

Minions in a tree

Minions outside dolls house

Minions in dolls house

Minions in ladder

Minions in beer cellar

The three minion amigos

If you have seen the Despicable Me films, you may have noticed that there are 3 different minion hairstyles, well my brother wanted a second minion (Ed the minion was his first) so I got to experiment with another variation – meet Bob:

Crochet minion Bob front view

Crochet minion Bob side view

I must admit, if I’d realised I’d be making a few minions I might have thought twice about all the fiddly details I put into them, they are definitely not a quick make, but at the same time I think it is those little details that make me love them so much.

Three crochet minions

Hopefully this isn’t a sign I’m going crazy, but I’m starting to imagine personalities for the minions!  Bob’s neat hair and slightly awkward leg angle make him seem a bit more reserved and introverted than his friends while I think Ed is a bit of a rebel and a joker and Kevin is laid back, curious and tends to go with the flow.

Of course, after meeting a new friend, the minions wanted to go adventure seeking:

Crochet minions meet some animals

Crochet minions on a bench

Crochet minions walking

Crochet minions bird watching

Crochet minions in rhubarb

Crochet minions and house

The next minion will be for my mum, who’s requested a girl minion.  An interesting challenge and a chance to try yet another hairstyle…

Another crochet minion

Kevin the minion became an instant hit in my family, but we didn’t want him to get lonely or bored so meet his friend, Ed:

Crochet minion front view

Crochet minion side view

This minion was much quicker to make as I’d already figured out the basic pattern with Kevin.  It was easy to shorten his body to be “regular” minion size.  After threading through his hair I gave him gradually shorter haircuts until the length seemed right.  Then there was only a little trial and error to get his bigger, single eye looking good.

Crochet minions

Kevin looks happy to have a friend!  The minions are proving quite popular, so I’ll be making some more variations, but for now I’ll leave you with Kevin and Ed having a little explore…

Crochet minions and horse ornament

Crochet minions in flowers

Crochet minions

Crochet minions

Crochet minions

Crochet minions and house

Meet Kevin the crochet minion

In the film Despicable Me 2 some of the minions got names:

Kevin the minion Despicable Me 2 poster

Since my dad is called Kevin and I was looking for a new crochet project after the monster amigurumi, I decided to have a go at making a Kevin crochet minion.

Kevin the crochet minion

I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times and was enjoying experimenting with different crochet shapes to get just the right look.  There were quite a few tries before I was happy with the final look:

Minion pieces

A bonus was that when put together little Kevin was able to stand up on his own.

Kevin the crochet minion

This wasn’t a quick project as there was lots of undoing and redoing and working on small details, but I really enjoyed the process and am very happy with the finished character.

Here are some photos of Kevin exploring his new home:

Kevin the crochet minion with a bunch of bananas
Banana!
Kevin the crochet minion looking at stairs
Those stairs look pretty big…
Kevin the minion at computer
Hmm, what does this do…
Kevin the crochet minion with a tin of chocolates
Mmm, chocolates

 

Amigurumi monsters

I’ve made knitted toys before, but after seeing some crochet amigurumi online I wanted to give that a try – I love the texture that using crochet gives.  So after only a little bit of previous dabbling in crochet years ago, I picked up a hook again.

crochet monster

After a fair bit of time browsing the many delightful patterns on Etsy, I settled on these bug eyed monsters by Moji-Moji Design as I thought my young cousins would like them.

Crochet monster

I would absolutely recommend Moji-Moji’s patterns as I found the instructions very clear.  In fact, now that I’ve also used and read some other amigurumi patterns, I’d definitely say this is the most accessible one I’ve come across so far.

Crochet monster

The monsters are pretty simple to make as they only use one basic stitch and you work in a spiral, so you don’t have a seam to sew up at the end.  The eyes and tops of arms could be a little fiddly because the spirals were narrow, but just a tad more concentration and they weren’t a problem.

crochet monster

These don’t need much yarn, hence a great way to use up oddments and there are so many possibilities for different colour combinations.  You could add various embellishments if you fancy, but I liked these just as they are with the bright colours.  Instead of safety eyes for the pupils I made french knots out of black yarn (tied securely inside to make them child safe).

Amigurumi monsters

I really enjoyed making these little monsters but had to stop myself after four as I didn’t think the boys’ parents would appreciate a whole army of monsters!