s Thoughts from the Physics Chick: Qiviut

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Qiviut

It is a truth universally acknowledge that you can spend as much on a hobby or activity as you want. Some hobbies naturally lend themselves to excess (collecting Mahnolo Blahnik shoes) and some naturally lend themselves to thrift (collecting paper clips), but a creative person can find a way to spend a lot on even the simplest pastime (such as knitting).

To that end, I have discovered qiviut (/'ki vjut/). Qiviut is the wool of the musk ox. Specifically, it is the soft wool under the long outer coat. (“Qiviut” is an Inuit word – musk oxen are native to Alaska, Greenland and northern Canada.) Qiviut is stronger than wool, softer than cashmere, it will not shrink in hot water, and it doesn’t itch. And it is insanely expensive. 300 yards of laceweight yarn (enough for a scarf) could easily run you $100.

This was supposed to be my “cheap” hobby.

6 Comments:

At April 01, 2006 4:15 PM, Blogger Wiglaf said...

It's a cool word, though. And words are free.

 
At April 01, 2006 4:17 PM, Blogger B.G. Christensen said...

Maybe you should start collecting comic books.

 
At April 01, 2006 11:32 PM, Blogger Becca said...

And here I was going to ask you for qiviut baby booties. I guess that too much to ask though... :)

 
At April 03, 2006 3:17 PM, Blogger Saule Cogneur said...

Knitting is only cheap when you use another's back hair.

That's why I don't knit.

 
At April 03, 2006 6:22 PM, Blogger Th. said...

.

You might look into alpaca yarn. Alpaca wool is supposed to have those same properties, and while also expensive, surely it's not that expensive.

 
At April 05, 2006 5:33 PM, Blogger ambrosia ananas said...

Plug for alpaca: I love it. I haven't tried qiviut, though, so I can't compare.

 

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