Spinning other sorts of fiber...

[Neko-chan]

You hear all the time about spinning wools from animals like sheep, alpacas, goats and even rabbits, but what about...spinning hair for dogs or cats?

I have friends that were talking about how their animals (cats and dogs) shed so much, and it was jokingly pointed out that they should send it all to me and I'll try spinning it into yarn. I'd give it a try just to see if it could be done. Has anyone else tried it?

 

[Henrietta23]

Not seriously. I have a spinning friend who once took some of our Australian shepherd's fur and spun it on her drop spindle. I never did save enough of it to have her spin seriously before he died. I kind of wish I had now. It would be a neat way to remember him.

 

[Neko-chan]

A friend posted this link:

http://www.knitting-and.com/spinning/ruffy-wool.htm

It's interesting, and good to know others have tried it.

 

[keljonma]

I took a book out of the library years ago about spinning the harvest from other animals. I was all psyched to spin with our Great Pyr's hair.

I thought, "hey, I can do this!"...... so I collected and collected.

Then I got promoted at work, was on call 24/7, and lost all of the "spare time" I had.

Then the bag of lovingly collected Pyr hair was lost in the move back to Ohio.

So I never did get to try that one.


Please let me know if you do this and how it turns out. I haven't found anyone "in person" who could show me their work.

 

[justusnak]

I have 3 very fluffy, double coated, Pomeranians. I have drop spindle spun some from one of my dogs, not the other 2 yet. I get them shaved down every summer, and my groomer saves the hair for me. Its not as soft as one would think...but its still easy to do.

 

[raro]

I have a book that someone gave me for a joke called "Knitting with Dog Hair." It also includes cat. Lots of information! I really liked the comment in it about how filthy dog hair is, and the author's comment, "What, you think sheep are so clean?!?"
Anyway, I'm sure you could Google it. It's a pretty cheap paperback.

 

[Neko-chan]

Even wool needs to be washed before you use it.

I'll check it out, maybe I can find it in the library. That'd probably amuse half a dozen people!

 

[justusnak]

Hey Neko. My original plan was to gather the dogs fur, and felt it into a dog, looking just like the dog it came from. So I would have a keepsake of my dog, when they pass. Yeah...well, felting is WAY harder than I expected! LOL

 

[rathbone]

This is fascinating. I love the idea.

 

[ORChick]

Earlier this year I was given (!) a lot of alpaca fiber, and have since been learning how to deal with it. The local woman who has been helping me on this journey has a little teddy bear that is made out of dog hair that she spun and knitted - very cute. In the spinning books that I have been feverishly reading - to learn how to handle all this fiber before I drown in it - I have several times read that usually it is easier to add your dog/cat hair to wool before spinning. I haven't tried it yet, as I have only one long haired cat, and even in Spring she doesn't shed enough to make the effort worthwhile. I think that I probably will at some point though, just for fun.