Qiviut

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A small piece of qiviut wool

Qiviut (less commonly spelled qiviuq or Qiveut, and pronounced kiv-ee-yut) is the wool of the muskox. It is valued for its use as a fiber as, unlike sheep's wool, it does not shrink in water at any temperature. It is most commonly used for hats and scarves, and is among the softest wools.

The muskox has a two-layered coat, and qiviut refers specifically to the soft underwool beneath the longer outer wool. The muskox sheds this layer of wool each spring. Qiviut is plucked from the coat of the muskox during the molt or gathered from objects the animals have brushed against; unlike sheep, the animals are not sheared. Much of the commercially available qiviut comes from Canada, and is obtained from the pelts of muskoxen after hunts. In Alaska, qiviut is obtained from farmed animals or gathered from the wild during the molt.

Qiviut is stronger and eight times warmer than sheep's wool, and softer than cashmere or vicuña wool. Wild muskoxen have qiviut fibers approximately 18 micrometres (also known by the obsolete unit name: microns) in diameter. Females and young animals have slightly finer wool. <ref>"Fiber characteristics of qiviut and guard hair from wild muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus). Rowell et al. 2001, Journal of Animal Science, 79:1670-1674</ref>

Domestication of the musk ox was begun with the Musk Ox Project, headed by John J. Teal, Jr. Oomingmak, the Musk Ox Producers' Cooperative, was formed in the late 1960s by Native women on Nunivak Island, with the help of Dr. Teal and Mrs. L. Schell. It is a knitting cooperative that works with qiviut and is still in operation today, in Palmer, Alaska. The name of the cooperative comes from an Inuit word, oomingmak, "the animal with skin like a beard."