Octo-Minion

Well, if you saw my last post, you'd know that I've been on an Octopus kick lately, making scrap yarn octopus dolls with different eyes, different sizes, different personalities.

Yesterday morning, an idea popped into my head... what if I made a cross between a Minion and an octopus? If Dr. Nefario and Gru decided that the Minions weren't being productive enough, and tried to give them more arms?

And so the idea for Octo-Minion came about.

Octo-Minion...taking over the world!

This is a loosely-scripted pattern, since I didn't take any notes, and didn't weigh my yarn before I started. Since I used a bunch of scrap balls of blue yarn for the tentacles, it was hard to keep track. The whole thing, with stuffing, weighs 9.8 ounces, so I'd guess about 3 ounces of yellow yarn and 4 ounces of blue. You also need small amounts of white, black and gray for features.

I made this one with a size K hook and three strands of knitting worsted held together. I used the Navaho technique to get three strands of yarn from one skein. That was one of the new skills I learned in 2014. (Hairpin lace is on my list for 2015).

I digress...

Octo-Minion
At the end of each round, join with a slip stitch. I use a chainless HDC (tutorial here) at the beginning of my rows, but you could also start with a ch 2 before making your first HDC. Usually I would make a scrappy Octopus in continuous rounds, without joining, but I wanted a straight line for the color changes.

Round 1: With yellow, 8 HDC in magic ring
Round 2: 2 HDC in each stitch (16 stitches)
Round 3:  HDC in first stitch, 2 HDC in next, repeat around (24 stitches)
Round 4: HDC in first 2 stitches, 2 HDC in next, repeat around (30 stitches)
Rounds 5-7: HDC around (30 stitches)
Round 8: Switch to black, HDC around (30 stitches)
Round 9-13: Switch back to yellow, HDC around (30 stitches)
At this point, sew on the eye on the black band. 
Round 14: Switch to blue. HDC in first 4 stitches, HDC decrease, repeat around (25 stitches)
 Embroider mouth
Round 15: HDC in first 3 stitches, HDC decrease, repeat around (20 stitches)

Round 16: HDC in first 2 stitches, HDC decrease,  repeat around (15 stitches)
Add stuffing 
 Round 17: HDC in first stitch, HDC decrease, repeat around, (10 stitches)
Make a slip stitch in the stitch directly across the opening from your last stitch. This tightens up the hole at the bottom.
Tentacle:
Chain 40.
Two sc in second chain from hook, then one sc in next chain. Repeat (2 sc in stitch, 1 sc in next stitch) until you get back to the base of the octopus. Slip stitch in next available stitch of your final 8 stitches, and repeat tentacle instructions. Keep repeating until you have 8 tentacles.

Eye: with a single strand of white yarn and size H hook
Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring
Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12)
Round 3: 2 sc in first stitch, sc in next, repeat around (18)
Round 4: change to gray yarn. 2 sc in first stitch, sc in next two stitches, repeat around (24 stitches).
End off, leaving a long tail to sew on. Sew a small button or sew-on gemstone to the center of the white. Sew eye on, centered on black band.

Top hair tuft: I took four strands of yarn, about 4" long, folded them over, and pulled the loop partway through the top center stitch. Then I pulled the ends of the yarn through the loop and tightened. That made a single top-knot. You could also do single strands in a few places on the top of the head.... there are lots of different Minion hairstyles.