{"id":4649,"date":"2013-02-08T08:30:11","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T13:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/?p=4649"},"modified":"2020-08-07T15:58:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T19:58:33","slug":"crochet-together-a-colorful-coat-for-dolly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/crochet-together-a-colorful-coat-for-dolly\/","title":{"rendered":"Crochet Together: A Colorful Coat for Dolly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s post is a crochet pattern\u00a0and also could double as the “clothing” kindness idea of the day because you could whip up one of these doll coats in less than an hour to bring joy to the face of a special little girl.<\/p>\n

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For the past year I have been teaching my now 8-year-old daughters to crochet. \u00a0Actually, our first projects were completed a year ago this month.<\/p>\n

One thing I really want is for them to feel the freedom to create without a pattern. \u00a0So today I asked them to join me in creating a coat for one of their 18\u201d dolls. \u00a0One of the girls jumped right in!<\/p>\n

My main goals for this activity were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. to let her see me go through the thought process of creating a pattern so she would hopefully feel like this was something she could do too<\/li>\n
  2. to engage her in helping to make decisions about the design of the coat<\/li>\n
  3. to introduce her to simple stitch abbreviations and pattern notation<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I crocheted and she grabbed a notepad and pen. \u00a0She was super excited about this too! \u00a0She kept saying how she was like a reporter getting down all the details! \u00a0I think she really loved using abbreviations because it made the writing \u201ceasier.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    With a size L hook and super bulky yarn the entire process from start to finish took us less than an hour. \u00a0Because we were talking through it the entire time she stayed interested and engaged.<\/p>\n

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    A few of the things I most enjoyed about the experience:<\/p>\n

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    1. She was very proud to learn the stitch abbreviations. \u00a0She couldn\u2019t wait until Daddy got home to show him all she had written down in her role as \u201creporter.\u201d \u00a0She also kept telling me how fast she was getting at writing the instructions down and how she didn\u2019t need me to remind her of the abbreviations.<\/li>\n
    2. On at least 2 occasions we pulled out an entire row (once we pulled the same row out two times) because we didn\u2019t like the results of our first try and wanted to try again. \u00a0I love that I could model that trying again is a normal part of the process and not a \u201cmistake.\u201d \u00a0I\u2019ve repeated to both of my girls since the beginning that one of the great things about crochet is \u201cYou can\u2019t mess it up because you can just pull out the stitches and try again.\u201d \u00a0That frees them to create.<\/li>\n
    3. We used a bit of multiplication and addition in writing down the pattern – I love when anything we do connects to the skills they\u2019re learning in school.<\/li>\n
    4. I had fun engaging her in the design choices. \u00a0I let her decide whether the arms would be wider or more narrow at the top (she chose wider), how long the coat should be and what yarn we should use for the trim. \u00a0With each choice we were able to discuss how we would achieve the look we wanted. \u00a0To make wider sleeves we crocheted 2 dc in some of the stitches near the sleeves. \u00a0We had to count back from both sides to make sure the sleeves were symmetrical on both sides of the coat. \u00a0To get more length we talked about whether we should use double crochet or single crochet.<\/li>\n
    5. Both girls agreed that the style of the jacket reminded them of George Washington… therefore we will probably try this one again in revolutionary war colors :).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In the end it was a really fun learning experience for both of us and I hope to continue down this path towards teaching them the tools to create with crochet.<\/p>\n

      Here\u2019s our final pattern!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      A Colorful Coat for Dolly<\/h1>\n

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      Hook Size 8.oo mm L<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Yarn:<\/strong><\/p>\n