Free scarves tie up Winnipeg's Exchange District

A group of Winnipeg knitters has tied hundreds of scarves around trees, posts and parking meters in the Exchange District to warm anyone feeling a chill.

Each scarf has a tag on it, urging anyone to take one if they feel cold — of even if they just like it.

Val Paulley, who helped start Chase the Chill, got the idea from a woman in the U.S.

"The idea is that you create something that you think is nice and useful [and] you hope that the person who chooses to take the scarf also thinks it's nice and useful," she said.

Paulley's group started doing it last year, putting out 56 scarves. This year, they outfitted the area on Saturday with 220.

By Sunday morning, there were just 30 left.

"There's a lot of people who are interested in stitching in this community and … they're also a giving group of people, obviously," she said.

Paulley intended on checking back in the area on Monday and if any scarves remained, she planned to donate them to a shelter.

People took time to create the scarves and she doesn't want them ending up on the ground or getting ruined when there are others in need of them.