Knitting Quiviut

Making the last of my Christmas projects. For those of you who aren't familiar with Quiviut, it is the undercoat of the Muskox, a remnant animal from the last ice age that lives in the Canadian Arctic. It has curved horns and a very long outer coat. The undercoat is a couple inches long and lighter than a feather!

The people on Banks Island hunt them for food and sell the undercoat of the slaughtered animals for their cash source. It is VERY expensive! To buy a 28 gram skein the price last year was $70 Canadian!! The yardage is very high, from 180 meters to 245 meters. This piece is being knit on 3 mm needles and it is killing my eyes.....no matter! It is for a very special person and I hope they like it. The piece is a cowl, a very flattering head garment. This one has four lace panels of twinning flowers that is very complicated to knit. An inch to go, then blocking, and I am finished.

Red Sky in the Morning

A couple of mornings ago we had a fantastic sunrise. At this time of the year the sun is very low on the horizon and takes forever to come up. Then it goes down about as long. Only a few hours of actually sunshine. Of course we live in the mountains so they block the sun too! Never mind, once January is behind us the days will start to lengthen dramatically and the true glory of living up here will once more shine out.

Christmas craft sales are finally over. I did four of them over three weekends. They were very successful. I would like to thank all my wonderful customers. I hope you enjoy owning your new pottery as much as I did making it.

Today was the last day of school for three weeks. Last evening the last after school pottery of the year. Back here at the ranch I am carding dog fur and wool and trying to get all my orders finished. Can't get into making pots again until the weather warms up in the Spring. Takes too much wood to keep the shop going and getting up in the night to go out there and put wood in the fire is a non starter for this kid!!

I hope everyone has a nice and safe holiday and all the best for 2012!