1975 puts the Scarf (and bright, shiny, red hat) into the hands of Tom Crowley, only son of Frank and Veronica. Tom, at this point, is the successful owner of a gasket making company called Gaskco, which leads to the first unwritten (until now) rule regarding the Scarf.

Any addition to the scarf must be created by the recipient. Meaning, if you are given the scarf, you must add something to it that you have constructed with your own two hands, by the skills you possess, earned through your experiences or talents, symbolizes something of meaning to you, etc. You cannot simply buy something to add to the scarf as it would negate the purpose of it; the purpose being that the Scarf now represented the family and each members’ lives as a whole tapestry. If Mary and Tom were chapters, the Scarf was the book.

With this, Tom knew exactly what he will put on the scarf; copies of his die-cuts for gasket-making. These, he placed directly opposite the red addition the Scarf received the prior year.

This year also brought on another new addition, one that would not be repeated for many years: it was given away before the year was through.

In 1973 Frank Crowley gifted the purple scarf his wife had knitted 3 years prior to his youngest daughter, Mary. And after this Christmas, Mary and Walt had a new idea for the scarf: maybe she would finish what her mother started!

With this, the legacy begins.

Unfortunately, Mary had the same problem Veronica had; she lacked the skill to complete the scarf. However, her husband Walter (an officer in the United States Army) was a Renaissance Man of sorts; his mother had taught him to knit and sew, among a myriad of other talents. And so Walt offered to help her by knitting an addition to The Purple Scarf.

And here is where things get fuzzy for a moment. It is unclear if the yarn used was intentional for comic effect or an in-the-moment effort to see an idea through. As the yarn that became the addition was not purple, or white, or a complimentary color of either.

It was red. Vibrant, fire-engine red.

Undeterred (or more determined that ever, depending on your view of the color choice), Walt began knitting a red-headed scarf cousin to the Purple one. Tight, even, uniform stitches unfolded in more and more numerous rows until… something happens. Again, we are not sure what occurred that led to the decision, but a change was made nonetheless. And Mary took over the knitting of the scarf. Looser, only-just-uneven, and wavy stitches unfolded in more and more numerous rows until Mary decides she has had enough, and ends its misery. The addition to the scarf is complete.

So she sews it on to The Purple Scarf. With black thread. And large stitches.

That Christmas, 1974, she gives The Purple Scarf and its bright and rosy addition, to her only brother, Tom. And with Mary laying the groundwork, another important decision is made.