Minion Slippers and Mitten Set

A set of minions

My knitting needles have been slow lately and preoccupied with mostly gifts. Now, however, I can finally share what I’m working on! It’s been a slow project thanks to outside forces, but I finally completed it—a Minion inspired slippers and mitten set.

My mom requested this project for a friend of hers. Her son, whose adorable sister also happens to think he’s a minion, is just starting to learn left from right. I don’t know if you remember back to that age, but that can be tricky lesson to learn. (I only figured it out after learning the “L” trick with my fingers.) The idea was to have a coordinating set of mittens and slippers to help him, and as he loves minions, the obvious choice was through one-eyed and two-eyed minions. The one-eyed minion represents the right hand a foot, and the two-eyed the left.

I used the Heart Strings Mittens pattern by Crystal Guistinello and the Toe-Up Toddler Socks pattern by Sheila Toy Stromberg. Both were extremely easy to follow. I’d definitely recommend them. Also, thanks to the toe-up socks, I finally got the hang of wrapped stitches. It’s a technique I’ve tried and failed at a couple of times, not to mention the couple of times I failed with these socks, but I think I’ve got it now.

The eyes were the tricky part. I ended up adapting the Calla Coasters pattern by Purl Soho. For the one-eyed minion, I started with 40 stitches instead of 50. I used the gray for rounds 1 through 5, white 6 through 12, and black for the rest. For the two-eyed minion, I cast-on 20 stitches and followed the pattern starting at round 10. Rounds 10 through 12 were tray, 13 through 14 white, knit one more round white, then repeated round 14 again (decreasing) and knit one round.

The yarn I used was Comfy Fingering yarn in black, planetarium, semolina, whisker, and white from KnitPicks. I really wanted to make sure what I ended up with was very washable, as it’s for a little kid. I enjoyed working with this yarn. It’s very soft and easy to use, especially for cotton. The only issue I had was with splitting. It splits so easily, so I had to be careful.

Now I’m working on a minion hat for his sister. For that I’m using Brava Worsted in white, black, canary, dove, and solstice. I will probably go back to the Call Coasters pattern to do the two eyes for this one. I really love how they turned out. Also on my list are a colorwork hat, cable socks, plain socks, and hopefully another washcloth or two.

What are you working on?