For “show & tell” at a recent meeting of the Northland Weaving and Fiber Arts Guild, my friend, Molly L., showed some of the loot she’d gotten at Convergence (the Handweavers Guild of America biennial conference; in 2010 it was held in Albuquerque, NM).
One of the items she’d picked up at the conference was a single ball of 100% qiviuk (the down from Musk Ox) lace-weight yarn in a lovely deep eggplant color. She asked the guild members for ideas for this most luxurious of yarns.
Marty F. promptly spoke up, “I think you should get Amy to knit you something from it!”
And I said, “Oh, yeah!! I’d love to knit you a scarf!” Molly immediately handed me the ball of yarn. Oohhhh…..Aahhhh….
I then spent awhile trying to decide what exactly to knit. Since I wasn’t selling the scarf, I realized I didn’t have to design the scarf; I could use someone else’s pattern. So, I looked through my lace book library. This seemed like a good time to dive into the book by Nancy Bush, Knitted Lace of Estonia. Nancy Bush is a renowned knit designer, best known for her fabulous sock patterns, and she’s the owner of The Wooly West. I took a 2-day workshop on Estonian knitting from her a number of years ago, and really wanted to follow up on some of the techniques we’d covered.
Now, here’s my chance. The yarn is “Qiviuk”, by Windy Valley Muskox in Alaska, 1 ounce (28.5 grams), approximately 218 yards, color 3007. Here’s a picture of the pattern I’ll be using, the “Raha Scarf”, and the ball of yarn.
How lucky am I that I get to knit a scarf out of qiviuk? And I didn’t even have to buy the yarn! I am lucky lucky lucky.
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