Character Name: Mini Smithson
Fandom: Chapter & Multiverse, “Masks” Campaign 1 [Podcast]
Played By: Lydia Nicholas
Yarn Used:
Hair: Loops & Threads Facets - Electric
Skin: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton - Cream Stripe
Leotard: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton - Rainbow Multi
Shoes: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton - Blueberry Speckle
Skirt: Hayfield Next Addition - color name unspecified
Eyes: DMC #E146
Mouth: DMC #816
Basic pattern here.
Our adorable little alien friend! Mini was actually a lot of fun to make and definitely an experiment in her own way. (She was also a bit frustrating, as I accidentally dropped her first leg at the bus stop on my way to a baseball game and had to do another, only to find the first one when I went back later.) Like with Joseph, there are things I would do differently a second time, but I love her nevertheless.
Mini’s style is frequently described as “somehow it works” and I wanted to reflect that with the colors I picked for her outfit - and I think it did exactly what I wanted! I did Mini in a cotton yarn, rather than the acrylic I’m using for all the other blorbos, for two reasons. One is that, well, she’s an alien - it makes sense that she wouldn’t be made of the same stuff as her human friends. The second is that the yarn is a bit thinner than the acrylic despite being the same weight, so I was able to make her come out smaller than Joseph despite using (roughly) the exact same number of stitches. She varies from the base pattern as follows:
Shoes: I didn’t think to grab a color that would work for soles, so her shoes are the same color from top to bottom. I gave her high-tops, and I also made her legs just the slightest bit smaller, so:
R7, Right Leg: Ch 1, sc in first 7 st, inv dec 4 times, sl st in first sc (12 sc).
R7, Left Leg: Ch 1, inv dec 4 times, sc in next 7 st, sl st in first sc (12 sc).
R8 (both legs): Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (12 sc).
Legs: I figure Mini wears no-show socks, or else she forgets them entirely because humans wear an unnecessary number of layers in her opinion and nobody even looks at your socks so why bother? (She does wear hover boots in costume, so probably they mostly don’t show.) I also only had two colors of yarn to work with for her outfit and I was not going back to the store that quickly, so I decided to put her in a 3/4 length unitard:
R9: Using skin color, ch 1, sc in back loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (12 sc).
R10-15: Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (12sc).
R16: Switch to outfit color. Ch 1, sc in front loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (12sc).
Continue pattern as normal.
Body: To get a place to attach the skirt later, work R38 in front loops of R37, then work R39 in the back loops of R38. Continue as normal. I used the same method to form the collar of Mini’s shirt as I did with Joseph’s.
Face: I used a DMC “Light Effects” floss for Mini’s eyes. I don’t recommend this. Someone on the Old Gods of Appalachia Discord called it "the devil's asshair" and I have not been able to call it anything else since because that's super accurate, but it gave the effect I wanted.
Hair: I probably made this more complicated than I needed to, but it worked. Starting with R58, I took the yarn I planned to use for hair and laid it across the stitches of the previous row, then worked the stitch over the hair yarn with the skin color. I then looped the yarn back up until it was the desired length, laid it over the foundation row, and stitched over it again, and so on around the back of the head. I did this for five rows before switching to the scalp method I used with Joseph; in Mini’s case, I continued with the “add one stitch to each side” until it came to a peak at R75. To make the ponytail, wrap yarn around a book, card, or fingers (depending on desired length) until it is desired thickness, tie together and slide off card. Cut other end of loops, then stitch to top of head. I tied it with a hairbow, but you can also use a rubber band or stitched circle as you prefer. Last step is to cut all the loops you stitched through the scalp for the bottom half to get the hair flowing.
Skirt: Using the skirt yarn (I used a ribbon yarn because I had it and liked it and thought Mini would wear it), join to front loop of st in R38. Ch 7. [YO 5 times, insert hook in next st, draw up loop, YO and draw through next 2 loops on hook 7 times] in each st around, sl st in top of ch (38 very long stitches).
* Note - you can make this stitch as big or as small as you want. You can also do several rounds of smaller stitches if you want. I was just being as simple as possible. If you’re doing a taller stitch, YO two fewer times than in your initial chain.
Arms: You might have noticed Mini’s hands are different than Joseph’s. This is because…
…they have magnets in them! Mini’s known for her “tight, squeezy hugs” and I wanted her to be able to give hugs as well as receive them.
Pattern is as follows:
R1: With skin color, 4sc in magic circle, join.
R2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (8sc).
R3-4: Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (8sc).
Place magnet in center of palm between R3 and R4. (The way I stitched, it fit exactly.)
R5: Ch 1, inv dec 4 times around, sl st in first sc (4sc).
R6: Ch 1, sc in top of sts around, sl st in first sc (7sc).
R7-19: Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (7sc).
R20: Switch to unitard color. Ch 1, sc in front loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (7sc).
R21-25: Ch 1, sc in each st, around, sl st in first sc (7sc). Fasten off, leaving long tail for sewing.
I didn’t stuff Mini’s arms, partly because they were so skinny it made it awkward and partly because I wanted them to be extra floppy for extra huggability. Before I stitched them on, I made sure the hands would stick together the way I wanted them to - stacking on top of each other like she’s lacing them together rather than palm to palm like a prayer.