QIVIUT HATS

I don’t usually use this BLOG  for sale items , but we have had requests online for our fab  qiviut hats. And since we are not  taking guests, nor is there our county fair in August, I thought it a good idea to offer them here.  While they may seem expensive, we have been told we under sell. Over the past few years we have probably sold over 50-60.  What is qiviut?  And why is it so expensive?

 Qiviut is the inner wool of the muskox. 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 warmer than sheep's wool. It is one of the world’s the softest as well as warmest wools and will last a lifetime. Wild muskoxen have qiviut fibers approximately 18 micrometres in diameter. Females and young animals have slightly finer wool. Unlike sheep's wool, it does not shrink in water at any temperature, but this means that it also is not useful for felting.

Domestication of the muskox was begun with the Musk Ox Project, headed by John J. Teal, Jr with the first domestic muskox farm in Fairbanks, Alaska. The project continues at the muskox farm in Palmer, Alaska. Oomingmak, the Musk Ox Producers' Cooperative, was formed in the late 1960s by indigenous 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. The cooperative has its headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska and is owned by approximately 200 native Alaskans from many remote villages in Alaska. The name of the cooperative comes from the Inuit language word for muskox, umiŋmak, "the animal with skin like a beard. 

Each of our hats are unique, and each have different combinations of other fibers, like silk, cashmere, merino wool and mohair and sometimes even our own Cotswold sheep wool.  They are $80 each + shipping.

2 hats on bottom right do not have qiviut and are $40