Oomingmak - Musk Ox Products
In the Eskimo language, the word for musk ox is Oomingmak. A cooperative of native Alaskan villagers now turns their incredibly soft down, or qiviut, into super-warm hats, scarves, stoles, and more.
Located in Anchorage, Alaska, the Musk Ox Producer's Cooperative has a shop set up to offer the fruits of their labors. The group, created in 1969, now helps over 300 Eskimos in remote villages retain self sufficiency and bring beauty to the world.
The shop may be small, but this is on the end location of a long, time intensive process. The soft qiviut, or underwool of the musk ox, is naturally shed each spring by the musk ox. The herders gather up this qiviut and then distribute it out to the knitters.
The knitters use this warm fur, which is 8 times as warm as wool, to create hats, scarves, smoke rings, and much more.
Because of this long, time intensive process, the prices are not inexpensive. A single cap can cost $175, and a tunic will go for almost $600. The benefit is that these hand-made, extremely light items of clothing are incredibly warm - and of course beautiful. All of the articles are knit by hand.
Each item is knitted with a pattern specific to the village in which it was made. Patterns will often incorporate snowflakes, hearts, pack ice, and symbols representing the light and dark seasons of the Arctic area. Other designs include wolverines, sea otters, harpoons, stars, and sunbursts.
Read on to learn more about how a qiviut article of clothing is made, as well as watching the variety of ways in which a qiviut smoke ring can be worn!
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