Thursday 27 February 2014

When crafting and geekery combine! (Knitting a Doctor Who scarf)

"It is the DOC-TOR! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
I've wanted to knit a Doctor Who scarf for years, but for the longest time all the patterns online recommended yarns which were great matches for the colours in the TV scarf but were either impossible to find in the UK or ridiculously expensive.  Boo!  There was always the option of buying a ready-made scarf, but it just rankled to pay £45 for a scarf I could so easily make myself!!

While idly surfing the net last week I found myself looking at the scarf pattern again and noticed that someone had knitted it in Stylecraft Special DK and noted down the shade numbers!  Not only could I get the yarn at my local yarn shop, but it's super-cheap!  An hour later I was at Get Knitted hunting out the seven colours I needed!

There are a couple of sites that give the stripe patterns for knitting your very own Doctor Who scarf.  I opted for Witty Little Knitter's pattern, as the name makes me smile, and is of course a Doctor Who reference.

"Pity about the scarf-- Madame Nostradamus made it for me-- a witty little knitter. Never get another one like it--"
The Doctor, Ark in Space
It was a bit of a surprise to learn that there were several different versions of the Fourth Doctor's scarf.  I'd noticed that the scarf changed from the iconic broad striped one to a dark red/purple version in the Fourth Doctor's last couple of series, but I'd failed to spot that there were several different lengths of scarf over the years.

Tom Baker rocking the iconic scarf
After reading through the options, I went with the season 14 scarf, for mostly practical reasons...it's the shortest scarf.  As much as I hate to admit it, I'm a bit on the short side, so having a scarf that won't constantly try and trip me up seemed like a good idea!  It's probably going to come in at approximately 9 foot long, which is plenty...


It's been really quick to knit up so far; I'm coming up on halfway through the scarf and I've been knitting on and off for just a week.  I wish that I'd knitted it in time to wear for the 50th anniversary celebrations last year, but better late than never!  I'll wear it proudly for the London Super Comic Convention in March!

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10 comments

  1. My husband has some from his childhood that his aunt knit him. One is the iconic one and we also have the dark red/purple version which always confused me, but I do get it now!

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    1. Cassidy has a super-lovely aunt! I'm planning to use leftover yarn to make a kid-sized one for Lucas.

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  2. That's looking fantastic. And pretty simple to knit up yes? I might get going on one for K, she's a mega
    Who-ophile? Who-aholic? Wholover? What do we call you people??
    M x

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    1. Well, you could just save time by calling us Awesome. But the word you're looking for is Whovian! The scarf is very simple: just knitting, and knitting and knitting.

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  3. I may not be a Doctor Who fan, but I am a fan of the Doctor Who scarf! I hope I'm a talented enough knitter one day to make one myself (and that I can find the yarn!) x

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    1. It's a really easy scarf to knit. You cast on knit-wise which is super-easy, then you just knit and knit. There's a really helpful video on the Witty Little Knitter site which helps you to weave in the ends as you work, so that you don't have that misery at the end. The only remotely daunting thing about it is the size of the thing and since it knits up quite fast (especially in front of the tv), even that isn't a problem. G'luck! xx

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  4. LOVE! You know what I've always had a problem with the scarf because in my head it was so brown and orange, my two least favourite colours - that's what growing up in the 70s will do to you. But I didn't realise there had been so many variations on it. Love yours with the red and yellow in it. You will look amazing at the convention. I want to see photos! :) x

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    1. The colours should have been a bit more muted, but if you look at the reproduction scarf in Forbidden Planet it's really quite bright. It's also quite hard to tell the true colour with the old BBC recordings!

      I am contemplating buying a lab coat and going as Osgood!

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  5. I have a feeling that is going to be one very cool scarf! :-) xx

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    1. I hope so! Just passed the half-way mark xx

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