Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Tutorial: Despicable Me Minion: Part 5: Feet and Legs

Edit July 2015: I rewrote the pattern for the feet. The pattern remains the same, but the written pattern has been revised.

If you have yet to start a minion, see Part 1 to get started!

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Country Blue and Black
US size 7 circular needles
polyester fiber-fill

(make 2)

Boot:
CO 8 sts with Figure Eight Cast-on and black yarn. (16)
Knit 1 round (16)

Place half the stitches on the needle and *[(k1, p1, k1) in 1 st, knit to last st on needle, (k1, p1, k1) in 1 st] (24)

k1, pm (end Section 1), k2, pm (end Section 2), k6, pm (end Section 3), k1, pm (end Section 4), k2 (end Section 5); k2, pm (end Section 6), k1, pm (end Section 7), k6, pm (end Section 8), k2, pm (end Section 9), k1, pm (end Section 10)

Sections 1 and 2: Knit to last st in Section, kfb; Section 3: Knit; Sections 4 and 5: Knit to last st in Section, kfb; Sections 6 and 7: kfb, knit to end of section; Section 8: Knit; Sections 9 and 10: kfb, knit to end of section (32 sts)

Knit 1 round (32)
Repeat increase round (40)
Knit 5 rounds, removing markers and placing one at middle of round. Make sure decreases are centered on marker.
k18, ssk, k2tog, k18 (38)
K 1 round
k13, ssk 3 times, k2tog 3 times, k13 (32)
K 1 round
k8, ssk 4 times, k2tog 4 times, k8 (24)
K 1 round
k4, ssk4 times, k2tog 4 times, k4 (16)

Pant leg:
CO 18 sts with long-tail cast-on and blue yarn.
(RS) P 1 row
[p1, k1] into same stitch two times, p14, [p1, k1] into same stitch two times (22)
kfb two times, k18, kfb two times (26)
Loop CO 4 sts (Note: to prevent really loose stitches when you knit off these cast-on stitches, only cast on 3 stitches, then add the fourth on the next round after you've knit the three stitches.)
Join in round and place marker at the beginning of the round (30) 
Knit 2 rounds

Join the pant leg and the boot: 
Knit 1 blue stitch, then k2tog with one blue and one black. Repeat. (I lined up the four newly cast on stitches with the boot’s front four stitches and tried to spread the black stitches around the rest of the pant leg as evenly as possible.)

In the little diagram at the right, the bottom of the image is the front of the leg. Each dashed line on the circle represents a blue stitch, and circled stitches are knit together with a black stitch.

Knit 5 rounds, then...

Right foot:
K13, bind off 17
Bind off 3; break yarn, leaving enough to bind off the rest of the stitches and sew the leg later.
With a new strand, starting from where you left off, K9.
Turn.
Purl 6 stitches; break yarn
Return to the yarn that you broke earlier, and bind off the rest of the pant leg stitches.

Left foot:
Perform a short row wrap and turn: bring yarn to the front, slip 1 stitch off the left needle, bring yarn to back, slip stitch back onto left needle. Turn work.
P13, bind off 17 purl-wise. On the wrapped stitch, purl the wrap and the stitch together and bind off as usual. 
Bind off 3; break yarn, leaving enough to bind off the rest of the stitches and sew the leg later.
With a new strand, starting from where you left off, purl 9. 
Turn.
Knit 6; break yarn
Return to the yarn that you broke earlier, and bind off the rest of the pant leg stitches.

Weave in ends, stuff, and sew legs onto overalls (and through overalls to body, if desired)

The pattern is for personal use only. The finished item may not be sold for profit. Please acknowledge the author. Thank you!

8 comments:

  1. Hi, My daughter has made it to the feet and legs and we have another question or two.
    When you cast on the 18 sts. with blue yarn is that on a new set of needles? Do you just keep the black shoes on a stitch holder while working the blue?
    Also, looking ahead... I am unclear as to how to join the leg and the shoe with k2tog. I see boot behind pant and every other pant stitch but there are 30 pant stitches but only 16 shoe stitches. Any clarification or direction would be great.
    Finally, the line with "k12, k2tog 6 times, k12" I think should read "k13, k2tog 6 times, k13" to keep the decreases lined up. Just trying to be helpful. :-)

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    1. Hello there! Yes, you are correct about the blue yarn.
      For the pant leg and boot... you will knit one pant stitch and one boot stitch together when it says "k2tog." So when you pair the four newly cast on pant stitches with the four stitches at the front of the boot, you're left with 26 pant stitches and 12 boot stitches. So knit 1 pant stitch, then knit a pant stitch and a boot stitch together, then knit a pant stitch, then a pant and boot together, and so on. You should end with a pant stitch when you completely connect the two. Let me know if this clears things up.
      And you are completely right about the k13.
      Thank you for commenting so I know which parts are unclear! Please let me know if anything else comes up :)

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    2. Great! That is a big help. We'll see how the rest goes. She is super excited to be almost done.

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  2. Hi! She has two feet with pants and is almost beside herself with excitement over almost being done.
    After a great deal of trying to understand what happens that is different with the two legs at the end, I have finally surmised that you are building some short rows on the outsides to compensate for the roundness of the bottom of the minion.
    Why are we binding off part and breaking yarn only to start a new strand of yarn where we left off? Couldn't we just keep going with the yarn?
    Also, the left leg starts with purling which would put the bumps on the right side of the work I think. Is that right?
    Finally, there seems to be a lot more work on the left leg compared to the right and they end differently too (6 sts vs 4 sts). Help :)
    I've never really done short row work so this may all be exactly correct and I am just learning something new. Sorry for all of the questions.

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    Replies
    1. Hello!
      I wanted the bind-off edge to be continuous. I'm not sure if there's a simpler way to do it (please share if there is!), but I started a new strand of yarn so I could eventually bind everything off with the old strand, thus avoiding a break in the bind-off.
      For the left foot, I forgot to add that you should turn first (thank you for catching this!). However, to avoid a hole here, perform a short row wrap before you turn. (I like this video; the actual wrap and turn starts around 1:27 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuN8fwVthUY).
      I changed the left foot instructions a bit so it should resemble the right foot ones a bit more (sorry for the confusion...I think instructions for a short row wrap somehow ended up in there--should've proofread this more carefully). As for the 4 versus the 6... I think I was trying to angle the legs a little differently (it's been a while...). I don't think it had that much of an effect, though. I'd go with six for both legs.
      I hope this helps... please ask if anything else comes up. I'm very happy to answer the questions; I've realized I'm not very clear sometimes. But this will make me better at writing patterns in the future!

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    2. Woohoo! The extra instructions were great as well as the video. Thanks for writing this pattern. Most of it was very clear and you were great about helping when I was learning a new skill with knitting. This project made her want to knit again and gave us something to do together. It's off the needles and she's happily weaving ends and sewing together.

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    3. I'm very happy to hear that! I hope both of you have fun with your future knitting adventures!

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