As most non-Who fans could attest, “The Doctor wears that really long scarf, right?” And of course they would be right, referencing Tom Baker’s stint on the show when Doctor Who hit big in America.
While STAR WARS was a gateway drug for my science fiction fix, Star Trek and Doctor Who became staples of the habbit. I watched as a kid and got hooked early. I can fondly remember my mother calling upstais for my brother and I, asking what we were doing. “Playing Doctor!” we’d reply. Her nervous verification had a whole different connotation to it until she realized what was going on.
And thank heavens for cardboard boxes, the bulwark of our playtime. We’d stack up a few boxes and stick plungers out of them to be Daleks, we carefully sculpted a couple of cardboard boxes and covered them with duct tape to resemble K9 (complete with an extendable stalk with a lego radar dish in the middle of his eye scanner) and mom brought home a giant printer box that we cut windows in and wrote “Police Box” over the door. And inevitably, we’d tie every scarf in the house together to create something close to the Doctor’s apparel.
I have wanted one of these scarves since I was nine. (Of course I also wanted a lightsaber and a light cycle as a kid) but I felt the scarf was at least attainable. It took almost thirty years.
My roommates girl friend knits. She loves to make things for people. Music to my ears. We scouted out patterns on line, found the “official” knitting pattern from the woman who made the original for the show. (Of course in show, the scarf was made for him specially by Nostradamus’s wife.) We picked out yarn, and away she went.
For the better part of a year.
I feel vaguely bad about asking for her do make something that turned into a project of this undertaking. Until she gave it to me. I literally have no words to describe what a wonderful gift this truly is. Thank you, Miss Kara, for an amazing job.
And I wear it. I told her in advance, this was no convention floor showpiece, this was a Doctor Who scarf for Pete’s sake!
And oddly, I have only gotten two Doctor Who related comments on the scarf, where people recognized it from the show while I was out and about. But I have gotten a slew of compliments from people who don’t associate it with the show. They just thought a really long scarf was cool. And fashionable.
Doctor Who, fashionable? Wow. Those are two words I never actually thought I’d hear together in the same sentence. This is not to say the scarf is without challenges. Wearing it during the winter is fine, because it’s exceedingly warm. (of course its warm, it’s 40 lbs of wool!) I can see now why they filmed in all those Scottish highlands and rock quarries. Baker had to be sweltering running around in that! And there are dangers lurking for the long scarves. Car doors. Cats eyeballing the dangling fringe. And of course, escalators are a definitive no-no.
But I’m bringing it back.
So everyone, go into your closets and tie those scarfs together. The fashionistas tell me they’ll be all the rage next year…
