In this fourth article in our series on how natural materials are transformed into artworks, we’re focusing on qiviut, the downy hair that makes up the undercoat of umingmait, or muskoxen. In contrast to the coarse guard hairs in the overcoat, qiviut acts as insulation for muskoxen and is moulted annually; it has been used as a source of warmth in the Arctic for generations, whether as part of a tanned hide or as fluff tucked into outerwear. More recently, the fibre has been processed into yarn to make knitted and crocheted projects.
Our guide through the processing of qiviut is Tanis Simpson, an Inuvialuk and Gwich’in artist from Ikaahuk (Sachs Harbour) and Inuuvik, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT. She and her brother, Bradley Carpenter, are co-owners of the fibre mill Qiviut Inc., which produces yarn, knitwear, jewellery and hand warmers from qiviut. Based in Nisku, AB, Simpson and Carpenter purchased the secondhand fibre-mill machines in 2019 from the family of the late Vivian Osborne, who owned Arctic Qiviut in Alaska. Neither had previous experience in the fibre industry, so they learned to process and knit qiviut with assistance from fibre workers, including Robby Inuktalik, who introduced them to machine knitting.

For Simpson, processing qiviut provides not only the opportunity to reconnect with her Inuvialuit culture but also to educate others about qiviut during arts festivals and through her workshops—such as how “it’s said to be eight times warmer than sheep’s wool.” Here, Simpson takes us through the process of preparing qiviut yarn.


Qiviut combed out of a muskoxen hide, Nisku, 2021 ALL COURTESY QIVIUT INC. ALL PHOTOS KEAVY MARTIN
1. Sourcing the fibre
The fibre mill processes muskoxen hides that are harvested in the winter or spring, and they’ve found that those harvested in spring are easier to work with, since the muskoxen are about to moult. “We purchase the hides from harvesters, who harvest the muskoxen for its meat, and we will hire someone in the community who can scrape and dry the hides for us,” says Simpson.

2. Combing
Once dry, the hide is shipped to the mill, and they begin combing the qiviut out of the hide. They use either forks, which is the same method Simpson’s grandparents used, or various dog brushes. During this step, they also begin removing the guard hairs. “The coarse guard hairs are picked out throughout the entire process to ensure that we have the softest qiviut,” she says—if the qiviut is not dehaired properly, it can be itchy and cause imperfections in the yarn.


Qiviut drying in preparation for the carding machine, Nisku, 2023
3. Producing a roving
Next, they wash and dry the qiviut, and then it’s ready for the carding machine. “This machine has a bunch of different rollers on it with various-sized pins or teeth on it that align the fibres and help to remove any remaining vegetation and short guard hairs,” Simpson says. They run the qiviut through the machine several times and end up with a roving—a long strand of fibre.

If they want to produce multifibre yarn, they add fibres such as cashmere and silk onto the belt before it runs into the carding machine.

4. Thinning and aligning the fibre
Next, they use the pin drafting machine, which drafts the carded roving into finer coils by thinning it out. “[The machine] has a bunch of small metal combs that combine multiple carded rovings together to make a thinner coiled roving, and [we run the fibre] through this machine a few times as well so that we can get our desired linear density,” says Simpson.


Tanis Simpson spinning a roving, Nisku, 2024
5. Spinning the fibre into yarn and plying
After thinning, the fibre is ready to be spun. Their spinning machine does two jobs: it spins the fibre into single strands and it plies multiple strands together into thicker yarn. A two-ply yarn is very fine compared to an eight-ply yarn, and the different weights can be useful for different projects; for example, their “three-ply fingering-weight yarn is best used for making socks,” Simpson explains.

6. Washing and drying
Once the fibre is plied, they wind it into a hank—what Simpson describes as a “large circle of yarn which is twisted around itself, kind of like a figure eight. This needs to be wound into a ball or cake before use to prevent tangling.” Then they wash and hang it to dry.

If they are keeping the colour natural, they skip dyeing and either use the yarn for their own knitting projects or sell it as it is.


From left: hanks of solid-coloured dyed qiviut yarn and a hank of multicoloured hand-painted qiviut yarn, Tuktuuyaqtuuq, 2024
7. Dyeing the yarn
The hanks are dyed using acid-based dyes. For a single colour, they boil the dye into the yarn, but if they want a multicoloured yarn, they hand-paint using squeeze bottles to apply the colour wherever they want, which “can create a unique colourway,” Simpson says. After the yarn is dyed, they let it dry, and then it is either ready for one of their knitting projects or to be sold.

8. Knitting, sewing and blocking
If they knit the yarn themselves, they form the hank into a cylindrical shape called a cake: “the yarn comes out of the centre and it makes it more manageable for us to knit,” Simpson explains. Then they use flat-bed knitting machines to make knitwear such as toques, scarves and socks. Once the knitwear is ready, they hand-seam the piece, and the final step is blocking, which is wetting the knitted piece and drying it into the desired shape. This is Simpson’s favourite part of the process: “watching the yarn that we made . . . take shape and become a beautiful knitted garment is really exciting and satisfying.”


From left: a toque, mini-skein earrings and Kakivak (Fish Spear) made with qiviut by Tanis Simpson in 2023 © THE ARTIST
Simpson expressed that they keep an open mind about the process and look for ways to improve it. For example, they are interested in creating their own patterns on the flat-bed knitting machines and eventually would love to hire and train Inuk workers. This would allow Simpson to attend more arts festivals and host more workshops, nationally and internationally.

Personally, Simpson would also love to learn to hand-spin and hand-knit qiviut, to eventually “carry on what my aunt [Lena Wolki] was doing, [to travel and] teach people how to hand-spin and hand-knit [qiviut] pieces,” she says.



Notes
1 All quotes Tanis Simpson, interview with Tiffany Raddi, July 2025.