When I first came up with this idea I thought it would be a simple, relaxing couple of evenings as the girls sat around calmly crocheting after some basic instruction. The project was all chain stitch or single crochet, which are not difficult to learn.
Unless you're 8 and you've never crocheted before.
Like any new skill crocheting becomes simple with practice. It is NOT simple at first, something I completely failed to account for in my planning.
The task of holding the yarn correctly took quite awhile to master, and even then the girls struggled to both hold the yarn and do the stitches at the same time. Their hands are small. It is do-able, but it takes a lot of concentration.
While the ear warmer pattern was definitely appropriate for beginners, the time frame I established (3 activities, basically 3 hours of work) was not sufficient.
I ended up doing a lot of crocheting for the girls. (Between activities their projects would grow a bit.) So while they did all learn the stitches and contribute to their projects, they did not truly "make" the ear warmers they went home with. They could have... given more time... but we had time sensitive projects (like Mother's Day crafts, etc.) coming up and I decided not to do the extra activities it would have required for them to truly master the skill and make the project completely on their own.
So here's what I learned:
1. The girls liked the activity. They very much enjoyed learning to crochet.
2. I needed more adults. Who knew how to crochet. My co-leaders did not know how to crochet and one of me was not nearly enough. I invited other sisters with crochet skills to come, but there were not enough. Plan for one skilled crocheter for every 2 girls. Maximum.
3. It was expensive. I got the fat yarn, the faster to complete the project with and one skein per girl was just about right. $5 for yarn, plus a crochet hook, so about $7 per girl. Now, this did take three activities where we were using the same materials... but still. 7x12= $84. A good big chunk of cash.
What I would do differently:
I would go with a cheaper yarn. The fat yarn was pretty and did make the project go faster, but was not a necessity.
I would line up more help in advance.
I would ask any parents who were willing to get their daughter's yarn and hook for them, as all the girls wanted to keep their supplies.
What did go well:
I used a ziplock bag for each girl and kept her yarn and hook in the bag between meetings. (Their names were on the bags, made passing things out very easy.)
I made a fun playlist and played music during all three nights. It kept everyone's spirits up.
I let the girls who caught on quickly and enjoyed crocheting take their projects home to finish/work on, and then asked them to help other girls on the activity nights. Fostered unity!
Our spiritual lesson was on the parable of the talents, and how we all have different talents to share. Plus to INCREASE our talents is our responsibility, but that takes WORK. There is also a FIG requirement about making something, that this project, if done by the girls alone, would fulfill.
The project itself was simple (how to make your own ear warmer):
Chain 8 (or depending on yard thickness, however many stitches wide you want your ear warmer to be, plus one more stitch)
At the end of every row you will do one chain stitch (this does not lengthen your row; it keeps the height of the stitches even on both sides of the row). The "width plus one chain stitch extra" is to account for the 'end of row' chain.
So as you turn back to start your row of single stitches, skip that first chain stitch and then begin your single crochet. If you wanted your band 7 stitches wide, you would chain 8. You would skip the 8th stitch and put your first crochet stitch in chain 7 and work your way back to your first stitch. At the end of your row, chain one, turn, and single crochet back across the row.
Chain one, turn, single crochet, etc. till your ear warmer wraps around your head and can be joined.
Use a yarn needle and yarn and stitch the ends together to form a loop/band.
Leave all the extra ending pieces of yarn long and weave them in, rather than cutting close to a knot.
You can be done now, or you can make a flower.
The yarn thickness made a HUGE difference in the flower part. As in, the fat yarn makes a much bigger flower.
With regular yarn, the instructions I followed were: chain 53; skip the first chain stitch (as above) and do a single crochet in all other chains. At the end of the row, chain TWO, then do a double crochet in EACH single crochet stitch (104 double crochet.) You could also just do two single crochet stitches in each single crochet if you don't know double crochet.
With the fat yarn the girls only need to chain about 40 and one row of single crochet was PLENTY, no need for the second row.
To make the flower you simply coil it up (like a cinnamon roll) and use yarn and a yarn needle to tack it in place on your head band.
