The original. The un-reproduced. The only.

In 1970, the Crowley family gave their mother Veronica a gag present to celebrate her retirement at the age of 65. A part of this gag kit included knitting needles and the ugliest yarn they could find, knowing full well that she didn’t enjoy knitting. Harmlessly believing the irony would be fun, what was born would live on each year for a whole family, and the generations to follow.

Veronica Crowley went on to knit a simple ‘scarf’ from that purple and white yarn, a scarf that was too short to be functional, and too wide to be a scarf. That Christmas she would give it to her eldest daughter, Ellen, as a present in 1971. What followed was innocent fun; the scarf began to be passed as a gift each Christmas for a year or two. In 1972, Ellen gave the scarf to her father, Frank, and the following year Frank gave the scarf to his youngest daughter and her husband, Mary and Walter Gutowski. And this is where an idea becomes a plan, and a gift exchange unlike any other begins in earnest.