Fans can’t imagine any other actress nailing the part of quirky bandana-wearing chef Sookie St. James the way Melissa McCarthy did. Surprisingly, she wasn’t the casting director’s first choice. Jackson Belleville actor Jackson Douglas’s real-life wife at the time, Alex Borstein, was originally cast as Sookie. Due to prior commitments with MADtv, when the series she was working on was picked up, the role of Sookie was recast with Melissa McCarthy. Borstein made guest appearances as Emily’s clothing designer the fabulous Miss Celine, Lorelai’s neighbor Dwight’s board game–loving ex-wife, and again as the Dragonfly Inn’s harpist, Drella—but it was the on-screen chemistry between McCarthy and Douglas that made them believable as a couple. Casting director Jami Rudofsky said, “We read a lot of amazing women—a lot, but then Melissa McCarthy walked in, and it’s Melissa McCarthy. She’s comedy gold, and she brought things to the character that were so inventive. Her physical comedy, everything she did was above and beyond, and that was it.”

Everyone’s favorite quirky chef is seldom seen in the kitchen without a bandana, often accompanied by adorable pigtails peeking out. Worked side to side all in one piece, this knitted kerchief is sized for both children and adults, and begins with a simple i-cord, followed by increases that form a biased triangle of garter stitch fabric accented with basic lace. After the midpoint, each column of eyelets is exchanged for a partial row of eyelets, intersecting to form a series of symmetric Vs. When the triangle is complete, most of the stitches are bound off, leaving only a few to continue the i-cord for a second tie.