A Winnipeg educational assistant has gone above and beyond her role by creating a knitted keepsake for all of her students.

Elizabeth Pate, who works with a class of grade 1 and 2 students in the Louis Riel School Division decided, while in the midst of a global pandemic, to knit dolls for each one of her students.

"I got the idea of making dolls to represent each student in our classroom, and of course I had to include the adults in our room too," explained Pate. " I thought it would be something different and fun to do, something that represented each student."

These aren't just any dolls though, each doll is crafted to look like the students themselves. It took Pate, who enjoys crafting on the side, just under two weeks to complete 22 dolls, 18 students and 4 adult staff.

"I had a blast doing it, thinking about what clothes to put on them or how to style their hair, trying to remember the colour of the frames of their glasses. It was fun, the little details like that," said Pate.

The dolls have not yet been handed out, but Elizabeth is working on a safe way to do that. 

"I just hope when they do receive them that they have fun with it and maybe get a smile on their faces," said Pate. "Hopefully it will be a memory of their year, and what a different year it was."