I saw a big fat possum, walking through the parking lot like he owned it. (Actually, for all I know he does own it). Possums have no redeeming qualities, as far as I'm concerned. They're big and scary looking and they hang out in the dark, looking all mean with their rat tails and pointy teeth. They're not as bad as snaked, that might be their redeeming quality. It could be their slogan, should they ever band together in an attempt to change public perception about them. "Possums: we're not as bad as snakes!" I think, technically, these are Opossums, possums (without the "o") are fuzzy little creatures from Australia whose fur apparently makes lovely yarn. Other interesting animals that produce yarn: muskox, buffalo, camel, yak, beaver, mink, fox, muskrat, and, oddly enough, dogs.
yeah, I have yarn on the brain, because I'm waiting for the spring issue of my favorite online knitting magazine. I read it for the articles. Seriously.
re the yarn, as far as I know, most of those animals have to be dead to produce yarn. Dogs, like sheep, alpacas, goats, and rabbits, can get shorn, and walk away fine, but a little chillier. Buffalo, beaver, possum etc. have to be dead, then the fibers are combed or sheared from the pelt. (in the case of the buffalo, this happens when the bison is butchered for steaks. The production of yarn from buffalo undercoat allows us to use more parts of the buffalo). The muskox, on the other hand, produces a yarn called quivet, which is horrifically expensive (I saw a skein in a yarn shop recently priced at $119, which isn't too bad for quivet), but is also the softest, warn without bulk yarn around. The reason for the high price? The muskox sheds its soft undercoat every year when the weather gets warm, and to rid itself of the hair it rubs against bushes, rocks, and whatever else grows on the tundra where it lives. Then cheerful ox-hair-gatherers go into the tundra and carefully pick the hairs off rocks, bushes, and wherever else it is. In this way the yarn is created without the oxen ever being touched by humans, and so if you're looking for an animal-friendly fiber (and you're not smart enough to go with cotton, bamboo, corn, soy, or any of the dozens of acrylic or other plant-based yarns), quivet is the way to go. Read more about quivet here.
25 Pound Dumbbell Workout
2 years ago
3 comments:
Neat stuff about... Opossum: The word comes from Algonquian Indians meaning "white animal". An early description of the opossum comes from explorer John Smith in 1608 -"An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young."
Their hind feet have an opposable digit with no claw, and prehensile tails. The opossum uses its tail as a brace and a fifth limb when climbing. The tail is also used as a grip to carry bunches of leaves or bedding materials to the nest. They are North American's only marsupial.
Opossums have a remarkable immune system, and show partial or total immunity to the venom of rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and other pit vipers. Thanks to their lower blood temperature, rabies is almost unknown in opossums.
Their tails are eaten as a folk remedy in South and Central America to improve fertility, possibly because of their large number of offspring and their bifurcated(doubled) penis and vagina.
In conclusion, they are ugly big rat things with very small brains and they want to eat your head. Sleep well....
(and love our furry neighbors, even those of pointy tooth and tail)
no muskox yarn for you.
Bison/buffalo absolutely do NOT have to be dead to have their undercoats "harvested". they put them in a chute type of thing, (think rodeo, bronc busters or steer roping kind of chutes) and they have their heads at one end, secured where they can't get at the person doing the fiber gathering, and then they let them out as soon as they can.
Just saw this a couple of weeks ago on Dirty Jobs.
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