Instead of letting the hides of buffalo raised for meat go to waste, the folks at Buffalo Gold retrieve the down undercoat and spin it into pure luxury. Despite the rough, shaggy nature of the bison’s outer mantle, the down rivals cashmere and qiviut for softness and warmth. A labor-intensive combing and collection process makes the yarn somewhat pricy, but ideal for small projects such as Ann Budd’s cabled socks and fingerless mitts. Both are worked from the cuff to the tip and feature a relatively simple cable pattern.