Anyone know how to collect dog hair for spinning?
Thanks in advance, Elizabeth and Fletch |
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Sorry I don't know but if you find out I have about half a sack of dog hair from grooming you're welcome to.  |
There you go all about it  I saw quite a few years ago a sweater knitted out of OES undercoat, it was really lovely and soft to feel. This link explains how to collect it, prepare it etc. Hope it helps
http://www.bbkirk.com/Dog%20Hair%20Yarn.htm |
| I started collecting hair since Frank was a pup. There's a lady down the street that weaves. When I first shaved Frank, she said that she could spin that hair, but you ar much better off saving what comes off in the brush. It's softer & easier to weave. When I strip Frank's neck for show I lift the outer coat and strip out the undercoat and that's the softest out of all of the coat. |
| We had yarn spun from Maggie's hair after we sheared her down last spring. Sent it to VIP Fibers in California (vipfibers.com). It was a bit pricey but I was very pleased with the results. I ended up with about 12.5 ounces of yarn and was able to make sweater sets for two Boyd's Bears. Very unique and will be a treasured memento in years to come.
By using the sheared hair the texture was coarser because it contained a lot of topcoat. If you use the hair collected from your pin or slicker brushes that will be predominantly undercoat. This will make a very soft yarn that is actually lighter and fluffier than sheeps wool. When I told people I had yarn spun out of dog hair the first thing they thought was "ugh, the smell!" Quite the contrary, it smelled wonderful and was a pleasure to work with. Nelson kept wanting to steal the skeins because I guess he could still smell Maggie on it but I couldn't. There is a book about this craft you can get on Amazon.com "Knitting With Dog Hair : Better A Sweater From A Dog You Know and Love Than From A Sheep You'll Never Meet" (Paperback) by Kendall Crolius In a couple weeks we are having a "Fleece Fair" here in Indiana. They are holding workshops on spinning and have vendors for equipment and supplies. I'm planning to go and will let you know if I get any additional information. I may even take Nelson (or at least a bag of his hair) and see if I can get someone to show me how to spin it myself. Nita |
| I think too the best thing is to not tell your non-dog friends & family what you're thinking about doing with the hair until you're wearing something. My friends think I'm a little bit of a feak for saving all of this hair.
I still have hair in a jar from the last grooming session I did before our first OES died. I plan on incorporating that too when everything gets spun. Now all I have to do is talk someone into knitting something for me.... |
VerveUp wrote: I plan on incorporating that too when everything gets spun. Now all I have to do is talk someone into knitting something for me....
I can knit you something long and straight and rectangular...That's about the gist of my talent! |
Maybe TylersMom could help? She has her own knitting blog. I'm not an expert by any means. I'm sure there are lots of real knitters out there. 
Nita |
| I just stripped out a paper grocery bag of hair-- anybody want it? |
| This is so neat to learn about. I like to knit - more afghans and hats and botties than sweaters, but I can imagine sheepie hair would be wonderfully soft!! Neat - let us know what happens!! |
| Nita, You mentioned someone's Knitting Blog. Do you happen to know the URL? That would be nice to read.
I think I'm going to have to wait until late spring to try spinning. My grandmother knows someone in a near by town who spins her own wool and we might be able to see how it's done. |
| This is the blog URL listed on TylersMom's profile: http://knittingonthebay.blogspot.com/
I've PM'ed her in case she's missed this thread, maybe she can help. Nita |
| My m-i-l tried this years ago. She has a spinning wheel that she has used to make yarn from some of the sheep on her parent's farm. She never could get the OES hair to spin evenly - there is some trick that she didn't know about. This was way before the internet.
Maybe I can get her to work on it again. And when somebody gets it to work, it would be a great idea to collect a bit from each of our 4 leggers to make something for Ron...... |
| A hair shirt? Ouch! |
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