#qiviut

[lamajaoscura]

What's softer than cashmere and warmer than down? Kuujjuaq students spin muskox qiviut into yarn | CBC News

There's a secret hiding under the thick, coarse pelt of muskox: a wool that's light, soft and warm, and which a group of people in Kuujjuaq,

[irrelevantellipses]

Is this fucker taking me almost four years now for such a simple amateurish pattern? Sure, but consider, it'll be so damn warm once it's done.

[fyresnow]

my parents went to Alaska over the summer and brought back some musk ox fiber! This is something my mom wanted me to knit for her- a smoke ring/cowl. I used up as much fiber as I had. It's still a little small, but I'm hoping it will be warm and cozy. Genuinely sad I forgot to take a picture of the before winding it into a ball. The colors are so much more subtle, and I was having a hard time capturing that with my phone camera. I think the striping means the lace pattern is obscured, but my mom specifically asked for lace.

Pattern: Rivendell Smoke Ring by Susan Pandorf

Yarn: blend of wool and qiviut (musk ox) fiber from Musk Ox Farm, Alaska

[fleebites]

qiviut

[reynaldvoyance]

Les bœufs musqués ne sont pas comme tout le monde. Ces animaux endurent sans problème et même prospèrent au cœur de l’un des environnements les plus rudes de la planète : l’hiver arctique. Leur long pelage recouvre une couche de laine intérieure douce et épaisse, appelée « qiviut », qui les garde bien au chaud, même quand les températures atteignent des tréfonds. A la fin de l’hiver, les bœufs musqués se débarrassent de leur couche intérieure, qui est ensuite collectée et tissée en pelote de laine, plus chaude que celle des moutons et plus douce que le cashmere. Les bœufs musqués doivent leur nom à la forte odeur qui émane des mâles durant la saison des amours. Ils habitent la Toundra depuis des milliers d’années et se nourrissent de racines, de mousses et de lichen. Dans les années 1920, ils furent chassés jusqu’à leur quasi-extinction qui, toutefois, fut totale en Alaska. Heureusement, grâce aux programmes de réinsertion, on dénombre aujourd’hui 5 000 spécimens en Alaska et 125 000 dans le monde.

Muskoxen aren't like everyone else. These animals endure and even thrive in one of the harshest environments on the planet: the Arctic winter. Their long coats cover a thick, soft inner layer of wool called "qiviut" that keeps them warm, even when temperatures reach the depths. At the end of winter, the muskoxen shed their inner layer, which is then collected and woven into a ball of wool, warmer than sheep's and softer than cashmere.

Muskoxen owe their name to the strong odour emanating from the males during the mating season. They have inhabited the Tundra for thousands of years and feed on roots, moss and lichen. In the 1920s, they were hunted to near extinction, although they were totally extinct in Alaska. Fortunately, thanks to rehabilitation programs, there are now 5,000 specimens in Alaska and 125,000 worldwide.

[theriversdaughter]

I almost feel bad for not being a better spinner to do justice to how fantastic qiviut* is to spin.

*qiviut is the undercoat from the musk ox, and is one of the warmest natural fibers on earth.  As a bonus, it’s also hypoallergenic and lanolin free, which is super important when one is unable to come in contact with sheep’s wool, which is more aptly named Firey Death Floof.

[andersonandsheppard-blog]

Our hand knitted qiviut muskox cable sweaters have arrived in Navy. Supersoft, lightweight and one of the warmest wool fibres in the world. #andersonandshappard #qiviut #muskox

[irrelevantellipses]

So soft. So precious. So squishy. But probably not enough to finish that scarf... Alas.