The volunteer at the Palmer Visitor Center suggested that we might enjoy a visit to the University of Alaska's Musk Ox Farm. Ok, so what's interesting about musk oxen, and why would the university want to establish a farm to raise them? The musk ox had been hunted to extinction on the North American continent. Using stock from Greenland and Siberia they were reintroduced. Still rare, the university has worked to maintain diversity of blood lines in the their new herds.

They have discovered the value of the qiviut (kiv-ee-ute), the soft, downy underwool that keeps the musk ox warm in winter. Qiviut is one of the rarest, finest, and warmest fibers on earth. It is 8 times warmer by weight than sheep's wool, it is softer than cashmere, and it will not felt or shrink.

In the spring, musk oxen shed their qiviut. The fiber falls off in big powder puffs. It was this natural shedding process that led to the creation of what was the only herd of domesticated musk oxen in the world, now located in Palmer. There is now also a company in Montana doing the same thing for profit.

Qiviut: The musk ox angora wool

Qiviut has become the basis of an Alaskan cottage industry. The qiviut is spun into yarn in Rhode Island, then distributed to knitters in the Alaskan native villages. Formed in 1969, OO-Mingmak, the Musk Ox Producers' Co-operative is now a successful crafts cooperative formed of more than 200 Eskimo knitters who work at home in their isolated tundra and coastal villages and hand knit the fine qiviut yarn into beautiful, warm caps, scarves, and smokerings. Each village has a signature knitting pattern, derived from traditional Eskimo art.

Well, now you know the basics.