Qiviut - Production and Processing

Production and Processing

An adult muskox can produce four to seven pounds of qiviut a year. Qiviut is produced by the muskox's secondary hair follicles, which are not associated with sebaceous glands, and therefore is a much drier fiber than wool, having only about 7 percent oils. The hair follicle density is very high (approximately 42 per square millimeter) and qiviut is shed in a tightly synchronized spring molting period. The qiviut will loosen from the animal's skin and pull away slightly, creating a "spectacled" look around the eyes and becoming visible all over the body at the surface of the pelt. At this stage of the molt, the undercoat is a short but relatively uniform distance from the skin. This lends itself to combing the qiviut from the animal in a single large sheet. (If not combed, the qiviut will begin to fall out in clumps or be rubbed off by the animal, and may be plucked off the ground or bushes, but qiviut collected this way is of lower quality and requires more cleaning.)

At the Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station (LARS), a modified bison crush is used to gently but firmly hold the muskoxen in place, and the pelt combed out using a long-toothed comb or hair pick. After the fleece is removed, it is cleaned by hand, removing vegetation and other foreign matter, and then dehaired. Dehairing is the removal of intermediate hairs (greater than 30 micrometres in diameter). Dehairing is accomplished by carding as one would cashmere. Mechanical carding can cause breakage and weaken and roughen the qiviut. (Because the pelt is combed rather than shaved, there are very few guard hairs using this method. Pelts from hunted animals are shaved, so the dehairing process in this case is more laborious.) After dehairing, the qiviut may be cleaned again, if necessary.

The raw, cleaned qiviut is then spun into yarn and the yarn washed gently in warm water. The yarn may then be overdyed, but bleaching and dyeing can weaken the fiber and reduce its softness.