About Us

My name is Christina Morris and I am the owner and operator of Hart Strings Collective. I am a Stepmom of two teenage boys and a mom of two toddler boys and a Baby girl. I began Knitting Toques after I had my first son Beckett in January 2019. I had a very complicated pregnancy which ended up in an emergency C- Section at 33 weeks due to being diagnosed with a rare disorder called  Cauda Equina Syndrome. I had my first spinal surgery following the delivery and then a few days later another spinal surgery. Beckett was in the NICU and I was in a neurosurgery ward and we were separated for a few weeks with only a few visits due to a viral outbreak where I was. When discharged I was not able to get around without a wheelchair or a walker for more than a year so during that time I was suffering from Post-Partum Depression, anxiety, and extreme pain from a failed back surgery and severe nerve/muscle damage that would not recover. I began knitting to keep my hands busy which was a way to help me from self harming which was my way of coping that I used starting as a young child going through sexual abuse trauma. I started selling my toques locally to friends and family as a way to gain some income as everything that had happened left our family financially strained due to medical costs. When Beckett turned one we found out we had a huge surprise heading our way with another little bundle of joy. I was being followed closely by a high risk pregnancy team due to what happened with my first and at around 16 weeks one of the doctors noticed something on one of the scans that looked abnormal with his heart. We went to BC Women’s Hospital to get additional scans for a Cardiologist to look at. We got the diagnosis that the baby had a hole in his heart called a Ventricular Septal Defect. We had a few months to prepare for the birth of our little guy with so many unknowns of what was going to happen once he was born. September 2020 we welcomed our little Maddox Hart via C- section and got to bring him home three days later. We left while he was extremely jaundiced but not presenting an immediate cardiac issue and were scheduled to see the Cardiologist in a month after he was born. We thought we had finally caught a break and maybe he wasn’t going to need surgery at all. Maddox was a week old and we were heading to our newborn photoshoot and noticed he seemed a little off. Later that day we made the quick decision that something definitely didn’t seem right and we took him back to the hospital. Once we got there he was blue and barely breathing and going into complete heart failure due to another heart complication called Coarctation of the Aorta. We have spent a lot of time at BC Children's Hospital and we are so grateful for all the medical teams and support we have received and continue to receive as his condition will require intervention throughout his whole life. I wanted to create this company as a way to spread awareness through the name of the company Hart Strings about Congenital Heart Defects. All the items I have been creating, and carefully curating,  have all been stitched together with love just it is a beautiful way of reminding me of the love that stitched Maddox’s heart back together. Since Launching my collective we have welcomed a baby girl and have continued to navigate Maddox's Medical issues.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know me and the story behind my business and a little about my true inspirations my family members!