Qiviut

Sorry for being unclear! Qiviut's the undercoat of the musk ox. Musk oxen aren't shorn to get at it; instead, they herd the musk ox into a pen just a little bigger that the animal, then someone combs the musk ox with, I swear to you, a cake cutter of the same type used for Afro hairstyles. I have personally seen this done at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska.

The animals are prehistoric-looking. From pictures, they look enormous, but really they're skinny and short, with a big plate of horn on their long, funky heads. In the wild, the horn flips up like Mary Tyler Moore's 60's hairdo. I was told that the fine folks at the Musk Ox Farm tried removing the entire horn plate to reduce injuries, but the silly things kept bashing into each other anyway and concussions ensued. Now, they just cut the tips off so no one gets gored, and the rams are free to bash away. We saw one attack a fence post several--very amusing.

I have a soft spot for musk ox; the Farm was one of my first dates with my husband, way back when we were courtin'. And we've been married 13 years this week.

The wool's incredibly soft and warm. Well, it comes off an animal adapted to live around the Arctic Circle, so it would need to be. It's amazing stuff.