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Gather round and listen to my tale. The saga of the Wee Scarvies.
In April of 2002, about 75 loons traveled from all over the world to Long Island, New York, to meet Billy Boyd at I-Con, a Science Fiction convention.
So those of us who went needed something with which to identify each other at the convention. Stewart thought that buttons or shirts that said "Loons" might be a bit intimidating, so we developed the concept of "Wee Scarvies" to be a symbol that would be subtle, yet meaningful.
They're 6 1/2"-long braids of yarn (four gray strands to one purple and one orangey-yellow), knotted at both ends, designed to look like miniature versions of Pippin's scarf. Billy told me I got the colors exactly right! ::is chuffed:: (Thank you, Gonzai!)
So anyway, I originally made enough for the folks coming to the convention (about 107 said they would be coming, although only about 75 actually collected scarvies from me, and "Fellowship of the Wee Scarvies" nametags that Stef made up). But that seemed exclusive. Like if the people who were coming to the con were going to get them, others would feel left out. So I started offering them to mail them to people, and made a total of about 140 with the yarn I'd bought. By the time of the convention, I'd mailed 40 of them to 10 countries. There was a brief pick-up in requests after the con, and they're now owned by over 400 people in 22 countries, including: Norway, Sweden, the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Singapore, and to 35 states in the US. (And Puerto Rico, as well!)
PLEASE NOTE!!! I have not met all the cast myself. Most of those cast members who have them were given them by other people. I have met (so far), Viggo, Billy, and Sean Astin. But that's it.
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Me and Viggo
Now, there are a few stories about these that you might want to hear. One of them I can't tell, cuz it's naughty. /grin/ At I-Con in April, we went to the International Center for Photography in Manhattan, where I gave one to Viggo at his booksigning. And he . . . tied it around his ponamu! Yes, the NZ greenstone pendant he wears with the Thor's hammer! I was staring so hard at it, not believing that my "Wee Scarvie" was around his ponamu, that I didn't pay attention to what he was doing, rather fuzzily said my name, and he spelled it wrong. Heh. He said, "Oh, I hope it's with a Y, because..." I looked down and said, "Oh, actually it's an IE, but that's okay." He frowned (and yes, his brow really does get that little ripple effect when he frowns) and said, "No, it's not!" He scratched out "Jenny" and wrote "!!!" over it, and wrote my name again. With a Y again! So I did it! I actually laughed at Viggo Mortensen, and said, "You did it again!" So he shook his head and scratched it out again, and wrote JENNIE in big block letters, with a swirl (the Maori symbol "Koru") over the I, and then a heart, and his cool "Viggo". Anyway, so he has one!
Here's a pic of the two of us at the signing. You can see the Wee Scarvie on his ponamu. (If you look really hard, that is.)
Click on this pic for a closeup courtesy of Emma Abraham (Lilith of Sherwood) of Viggo with his Wee Scarvie. |
Me and Billy
Then, on Saturday at I-Con, I got in the Q&A line and after asking Billy how he felt about so many of us in at least a dozen countries using words like "feart" and "wee" in our daily conversation (he said he was proud to be spreading the Scottish language around the world), I presented him with his "Fellowship of the Wee Scarvies badge. And he gave me a hug! Click on the pic to see a nice big pic of me showing him Gonzai's "Electric Blue Pippin" sticker on his "Fellowship of the Wee Scarvies" badge. Thanks to Emma Abraham (Lilith) for that pic.
A few weeks after I-Con, Gonzai went to CreepCon in Baltimore, and gave one to Brad Dourif! We don't have a pic of that, though, because at the time, we had no idea we'd be collecting pics of the cast with Wee Scarvies. Ah well. She said he thought we were all nuts. lol
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John Rhys-Davies at Origins
John Rhys-Davies got his at Origins, a gaming convention in Ohio! Love the way he goofed around with it. He's so funny! Click on the pic for a photo of the cool card he signed for me.
When told that Brad got one before him, he was mock-offended. Wormtongue before Gimli!? lol |
Dominic Monaghan at ComicCon
Here is Alison at ComicCon with Dom. You can see the Wee Scarvie wrapped around his finger, here.
If you click on the image, you'll see one of Carlita with Dom. He's holding it up in that one.
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Lawrence Makoare and Sala Baker at ComicCon
Here are Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz) and Sala Baker (Sauron) with their Wee Scarvies. You can just make out on Sala's left shoulder a tattoo of what I think is the Eye of Sauron symbol that the WETA people were using during filming. Alison got one of the pins of this from Richard Taylor. |
Elijah gets his in Toronto!!
Emma (Lilith of Sherwood) managed to get one to Elijah at the Toronto Film Festival around about September 10th or so. Here's a pic of her holding it just before she gave it to him. Click for another pic, where you can just make out the Wee Scarvie in his hand. He said it was "brilliant", which is apparently a not-uncharacteristic comment from Elijah.
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Sean Astin in Washington, D.C. & Sir Ian's story
Here's Sean at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (that's the Reflecting Pool behind him) on September 11th. He was there to emcee the United Day of Service awards ceremony.
Click for a pic of him gettin' silly wid' it. I'd told him how John had put his under his nose, so he slung his over his shoulder like Sam's backpack!
Sir Ian McKellen was in an AIDS walk in Seattle on September 22nd or so. Prism sent me the following report about it:
I don't have any photos to prove this but you must trust me as meeting him was a bit of a hectic situation. Actually, VERY hectic. I honestly had *no* time to really explain what wee scarvies were but I did get the jist out to him briefly. VERY briefly.
"Hello," I said "I'm a member of Billy's site... ((insert wide eyed 'oh really?'by him--slight smile--us being jostled about by the crowd))..I'd like to give you something that's been a bit of a tradition...a pippin theme...Dom, Viggo, Lij, Billy, Sean all have them."
I hold up the wee scarvie. We are being jostled madly about by the crowd. He's hectically signing autographs and glancing up at me inbetween. I'm fighting not to lose him as I continue to talk to him. He looks over at me still signing autographs.
In the briefest flicker of a moment of free space I hold the wee scarvie out. He takes it, holds it up, looks at it. He's obviously in a hurry, pretty flustered, the crowd is pretty crazy.
"It's just something the girls over at Billy's site like to do for everyone." I say really quick...I tried getting a photo but he was getting swept away.
He smiled at me, I smiled back. He put the scarvie in his pocket. By then, the photo op was over...I could NOT sneak one in. You can't believe how in appropriate it would have been for me to literally swim through the crowd and try to get him to pose for you. Sorry.
I managed to get a photo of him and me together but that's it. All the others are just of him signing autographs and being whisked away.
This was about 15 minutes before the walk, which means Sir Ian probably did the AIDS walk with the Wee Scarvie in his pocket! |
Andy Serkis in London
Big Pants and LizfromEngland sat in the pub at an event in London with Andy Serkis. Both of them brought Wee Scarvies for him, but Big Pants hauled hers out first and presented him with it, where upon he dangled over his mouth like a fissssssssh! (Click for that pic.)
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Sean Bean at the stage door in London
Big Pants also managed to bribe a fellow cast member to get Sean Bean to come to the stage door before his performance in MacBeth, and presented him with his. However, she didn't have time to explain to him what they were about, but told him that Billy Boyd would explain, causing him to laugh. So Billy should expect a strange question next time he meets Sean Bean. She got a pic of his head and another of his hand holding it, but with the crowd, the rush, and the jostling, didn't quite get one shot of both. But you can see that he's got it. |
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NYC TTT Premiere! Peter, Barrie, and Richard!
At the World Premiere of The Two Towers in New York City on December 5th, HobbitLove handed two to Producer Barrie Osborne, asking him to give one to Peter. Stef was standing nearby and got to hear Billy explain them to Barrie. Here's her report:
It was about 2 AM after the "after party" following the World Premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in New York City. Producer Barrie Osborne came out shortly after FotWS member Dominic Monaghan and was asked to sign autographs. As he did, FotWS member Emma presented him with a Wee Scarvie letting him know it was from the fans of Billy Boyd as a symbol of our group and that we wanted him to have one, too. As he was about to leave, Billy himself came up to the fans and interacted with Barrie. Barrie held up the scarvie to Billy to show him, saying something to the effect of having been inducted into his fan club. Billy reacted immediately with, "Its a Pippin scarf! I would recognize those anywhere!... See, it is to scale..." and more as Barrie proceeded to pretend it was a real scarf attempting to put it around his neck. Not that a 3-inch piece of braided yarn was going to help in that cold freezing, post-snow cold out there that evening. After that, Billy and Barrie shared a hug as Billy's way of sealing the welcome into the membership of the FotWS. Founder Jennie would be proud, and as the one that named the FotWS, sharing that moment with fellow FotWS members was something I don't think I will ever forget. :) Welcome to the group, Barrie!
-Stef
Richard Taylor also got one that night, and Billy explained them to him as well.
Click on "Wee Scarvies Page 2" on the toolbar to the left, and see the latest celebrity members!
 
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