I had never heard of yak fiber until I read Orange Swan's recent blog post on the subject. Her post highlighted The Rocking Yak, which was started about a decade ago by a man who was struck by the poverty in Tibet while backpacking through the area. His company supports the Tibetan herders by selling the yak down which the herders gather from their yaks every year during shedding season. (In addition to selling yak fiber for spinners, the Rocking Yak also sells pre-spun yarn, both dyed and undyed.)
Yak fiber is remarkably soft and lofty. The yak's outer coat is long and hangs down well below the animal's belly like skirts. The yak fiber sold for spinners is the yak's soft, fluffy undercoat, which keeps the animals warm during the harsh Tibetan winters. Yaks are relatives of the musk ox, which makes me think that yak fiber may be similar to qiviut, that highly sought-after, super-soft down of the musk ox.
I wasn't able to find much information on the crimp (or possible lack thereof) of yak fiber online. It seems like it might be the sort of fiber you would want to blend with wool in order to get better performance out of the yarn. (Clara Parkes advises blending qiviut with extra-fine Merino; the wool gives the qiviut "more substance," while helping to "anchor the flyaway qiviut fibers.")
Blogger Jennifer Leigh, when faced with four ounces of yak fiber, classified it as a down-type fiber (it has a short staple length) and spun it according to the resources she checked. She had great success by rolling the fiber into pseudo-rolags (a.k.a. "faux-lags") and spinning it woolen style with a long draw. Her blog post is filled with great information and excellent tutorial photos, and I highly recommend it for anyone planning out a yak spinning session.
Image courtesy Flickr/ssppeeeeddyy
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