Valentine Swap Surprise

I received an awesome package in the mail this week and had to share it's contents.  My swap partner from Indiana, USA, was Heather.  She assembled an treasure-trove of goodies for me and I am relishing them all.  Take a peek:

Felted recycled garments turned into little bags, with hand embroidery... "scatter joy".  A message I will definitely scatter on my future graffiti knits.

 Heather creates lovely felted flower lapel pins - isn't the label lovely?

Embroidery on the back...

Beautiful felted flower on left (which I wear proudly on my winter coat) and little red felted bag with flower button.

Also included in the package was a decadent chocolate bar, rose-scented tea bags (AMAZING scent), and many other goodies.  Thank you for spreading the joy, Heather!

Valentine Swap

Before we know it, Valentines will be at our doorstep.  Children will be swapping "sweet valentines" with their classmates and perhaps secret sweethearts.  I miss those days...counting the number of cards I received...who had the prettiest cards....which ones were homemade or store bought (I always made my own).  Now that I'm an adult (questionable at times), I've embarked on a Valentine Swap of my own thanks to Natural Suburbia who gathered willing participant's names/addresses and matched everyone with their very own Valentine craft-pal!

Mine is a lovely young mother/teacher/crafter from Indiana, USA.  She's a very talented lady and have made preliminary contact via email.  I'm trilled to be a part of this social experiment and to learn about my "neighbour" over the border.  Who knows, maybe some day we'll cross paths!

My package to Heather is currently being assembled and admittedly being shipped out a tad late (sorry Heather), however it should arrive in time for February 14th.

Heather, if you're reading this, I look forward to our new friendship!

Oh where can you be?

I officially yarn-bombed another trail around King Rd in Waterdown, Ontario.  My red-capped mushroom was lovingly placed atop a tree trunk a few days ago, in perfect view for hikers.  My 'shroom' was tagged...said my final farewells and proceeded on my hike.  Darn it all, didn't I forget my camera..Arghhh

Anyways, upon return to that same trail today, my red 'shroom' had vanished from its home...PFUFF out of thin air... outa site.  That's ok - no hard feelings.  Perhaps a dog took a liking to it or better yet, a human took it home...or kindly relocated it to another portion of the trail.  Guess it shall remain a mystery.

If anyone out there spots it, do share your thoughts or 'schroom's' location with us!  And...watch out for more Trailknits!

Embracing a new year

I love the beginning of a new year...fresh starts...new promises and of course, new knitting projects.

I'm in the process of knitting mushrooms, some felted while others knitted in heavier yarns.  As I walk through the woods, my mind drifts to the placement of my next yarn-graffiti project...where will I place my little "schrooms"? in a hollow tree trunk? on the ground where someone may step on them?  hanging from a tree or post?  Wait 'n see!

My First Graffiti Knit!

Look closely... very closely 'cause my first attempt at yarn graffiti is a tiny one.   I found an oh-so-cute oak leaf pattern on Ravelry.com created by Tina Hilton.  They take next to no time to knit up in a worsted yarn.  How fun to hang it on a tree limb, constantly looking over my shoulder.  Well, my first attempt was successful!

Christmas in Waterdown

Although this has nothing to do with yarn graffiti, I thought it warranted our attention seeing that Christmas is just around the corner.  On a 2-hr hike through the Waterdown portion of the Bruce Trails, we spotted a touch of holiday decor in the trees.  It brightened our day and inspired me to hurry up and start my mission!

Introduction to TrailKnits

Welcome to a new knitting blog - rather,  a new yarn graffiti blog, for the sole purpose of embellishing hiking trails.  The idea dawned on me this fall, while strolling through Ontario's fabulous Bruce Trail.  Countless hours were logged, hiking through leafless & flowerless forests.  What could I do about this?  Then it dawned on me to attempt a yarn bombing experiment or as I prefer calling it: trail knitting!  Thus the name: TrailKnits!

SO, watch out for some creative & fun little knits hanging from tree limbs, trail signs, rocks, fields, bridges or whatever we may come across in our travels through beautiful Ontario's hiking trails....

Should you hikers happen to cross paths with our "TrailKnits", feel free to admire the works, move them to a new part of the trail, take pictures and by all means, please do drop us a line - we'd love to hear from you!

Happy hiking!