It's dog hair. All of it. I've been saving it for more than two years.
For perspective, the kid in the photo is ten years old and about five feet tall. And the hair is rolled and compacted. Trust me. It's a lot of hair. If I fluffed it up, it wouldn't fit on the counter.
See, I had this idea that I could do something with all that fur besides vacuuming it up off the floor every day. So I started saving it. After a while, I made myself a little spindle out of Tinker Toys and gave it a shot. (You wouldn't believe how useful these things are.) It didn't work. But it did spark a small yet growing flame that eventually became enough of a fire that I ended up buying a spinning wheel. And while you may think I'm crazy...
...I'm not the only one.
14 comments:
Hey gal -- you are not the only one. In fact, dog hair even has a proper name among spinners -- its call chiengora (pronounced She-an-gora. There are numerous links to spinning with dog hair. is you are interested.
I'm fascinated... not only that you've saved it... but that there's others and even a book. Yet while thinking about it, it logically seems much more "wholesome" than sheep fur. Logically... I may need some time to accept it psychologically. ;)
But you go girl... I can't wait to see a chiengora scarf!
I have a hat knit from Samoyed hair, bought at a craft fair years ago. (The l-a-r-g-e pompom on top makes my head so tall that it hits the roof of my car, so I don't wear it often.) Couple things about it: 1, my dogs are inordinately interested in my head when I wear it, and B, when it gets wet from melting snow or rain, it smells very strongly of wet dog.
Hmmmm, maybe I should try some Eucalan on it...
So I've stopped feeling terribly responsible for the final purchase. Clearly you had malice aforethought.
Did I spell/use that word correctly?
I have some Kioshi saved up, and am trying to save enough un-staph-infection BooBoo to blend it with. Kioshi's staple was too short to spin on it;s own. Hey, if I had a sheep, I'd save wool. But I don't. What I do have is dog hair. Lots and lots of dogs hair.
Oh yeah, I've seen it done before, plucked, carded and spun. I may even have helped, in my baby years. Maybe that's why I'm still the family holdout? LOL!
Yes,that 'Knitting with Dog Hair' book is hilarious, have fun!!
....... Cool ....... :)
I've seen the knitting w/dog hair book before. But seriously, I don't know how short your dog hair is, but is it a little itchy? For some reason, I keep thinking that it would be!
Sounds like fun!
BTW I followed the link to your Tinkertoy ball winder, and I must say I am impressed right down to my (handknit) socks. You are amazing!
Well, when the nuclear winter comes, you will have plenty of raw material to keep spinning with to keep your family in warm johnnys.Unless you end up eating the dog that is....
Oh. My. God. This is just TMI for me. I must avert my eyes. ;)
I may not be accepting any honey or chocolate brown knit items from you anytime soon...but you're still cool in my books. After all, anyone who has the patience to store dog hair in their house that long must be deserving of some award! Just please don't start a human hair equivalent like in the movie Borat. I may faint dead away if you did that. :–)
I love Tammy's "chiengora" idea.
Could be a new craze.
Holy crap! That's a lot of dog hair! Consider yourself lucky that you can do something useful with the hair. My husband wants me to start saving his belly button lint so I can craft with it. Funny but gross.
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