The local community of Weston-super-Mare via Weston Museum have been busily knitting away over the past six months, making scarves to be sewn together into one huge Doctor Who inspired scarf and the time has come to measure the finished result!
The Doctor Who Scarf Project was launched last October to coincide with the popular exhibition – ‘ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACE – 60 YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO ART’, which ran from October 2023 – April 2024. Experienced knitters were asked to send in stripy scarves of a specified stitch, width and length, whilst beginners were encouraged to buy a Knitting Starter Pack from the museum shop. Dozens of scarves were sent in and the final result is estimated to be over 200 metres long!
Ever wondered why the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) had such a long, striped scarf? – The story goes that the costume designer gave a knitter a big bag of wool and asked her to knit a scarf. He thought she would choose what she liked from the bag, but instead she used up the whole lot and an iconic piece of Doctor Who fashion was created! Some sources say that first scarf was 20 feet long and the museum team’s aim was to beat this length, but they were bowled over by how many scarves were sent in and now the scarf needs such a long space to measure it that they are heading off to the Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare.
On Saturday 18th May at 9am, the scarf will be unrolled along the promenade of the pier and held up by many helpers in order to measure its final length. Once the final long scarf has been measured, the plan is to chop it back down into standard lengths and finish these off to go towards the ‘Warm Bundles Project’. The museum’s learning and engagement team have been working with other community organisations to gather bundles (scarves, gloves, hats etc) that are given to homeless people. This means that the long scarf will go to a good cause.
If you’d like to know more information, just email Katherine Bell (Learning and Events Officer) at katherine.bell@wsm-tc.gov.uk