A CARING shop owner and super knitter has created a yarn-bombing trail along the Esplanade.

Mairi Coventry who runs Wee Crafty Owl has created and attached 40 woolly items to railings and benches.

She was helped by customers and friends on the project which is helping to raise funds for Children's Hospices Across Scotland CHAS.

Greenock Telegraph:

Mairi said: "We thought it would give the children something to do and raise money for charity as they try to find all the woolly things.

"I knitted a lot of them and a few of my customers helped me to sew them together and tie them onto the railings.

"Every piece has a number on it and all you have to do is write what you see at the number, they are not all in numerical order.

"We have entry forms in the shop and at the Esplanade Cafe."

Youngsters have until August to submit their entry in exchange for a minimum donation of £1 and will be put in a draw to win a prize donated by the Esplanade Cafe and one of Mairi's customers.

There are a lot of cute and cuddly creatures to look out for including those with a maritime theme.

Greenock Telegraph:

Mairi quipped: "We have a seaside scene, tortoises, dinosaurs and mermaids.

"It's a good way to get publicity and funds for the charity and I've had a lot of positive comments from people who say it is the best thing they have done.

"People have six weeks to do it. I know two toddlers did it all in the one day.

"It seems to have caught the public's imagination, someone sent me photographs of everything they had found.

"The last couple of years I have put a few things on the Esplanade and I've received so many positive comments then I had the idea of the trail.

"It was a bit stressful towards the end but I had customers helping me.

"I did one of the Waverley first on the postbox when it started the season, though that isn't part of the trail."

As a former children's nurse, CHAS is a charity close to Mairi's heart.

She said: "It is a fantastic charity which helps children with life-limiting illnesses and their families and as the trail is for children I thought it would be good to support a children's charity."