Tuesday, May 11, 2010

ABC--Q is for Musk Ox


No, actually, I do know my letters. But Q is quite difficult to do after five rounds of ABC Wednesday. You want to be original.

We saw the musk oxen at the Wildlife Center in Girdwood, Alaska, on our trip there last fall.  The sign calls them "Ice Age Relics", and they do look ready for the Ice Age, don't they.


The Q comes in because the prized wool from the underbelly of the musk ox is called qiviut. (KIV ee ut) It is soft and warm and highly sought after. A small skein of qiviut yarn sells for about $60.



9 comments:

Mara said...

I haven't even done that many rounds and I was struggling! I love your q though, I had never heard of it before.

Sylvia K said...

How fascinating! I'd never heard of that either. Handsome fellas aren't they? Great post for the day! Hope your week is going well! Enjoy!

Sylvia

Roger Owen Green said...

Well, you threw me for a second. Nice deep Q- i'd not heard the term either.


ROG, ABC Wednesday team

giorno26 ¸¸.•*¨*•. said...

Queste bestie sono semplicemente meravigliose !!!
Bellissima foto.

Paulie said...

Very original!

Joy said...

The warmest fibre in the world, that would be nice in the winter. Impressive animals.

Janie said...

I love how you worked "q" into this.
Great photos of the great beasts.
Thanks for checking on me while I was gone. It's good to be back.

Jay said...

What an interesting Q you found! I had no idea about the underbelly wool, or what it was called. What an expensive jumper it would be, made from qiviut!

Tumblewords: said...

Silly me - I've used that word in Scrabble but didn't know what it meant! (In the old days - before it was easy to check on the Internet!) Terrific photos!