BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Spinning Spinning with Dog Fur

I just saw a documentary on Dogs and they had a skit about spinning with dog fur. The woman in the skit compared it to angora. She's made hats and mits from the product created.

I'm wondering if any of you have done it? Is it hard? How much dog fur would you need? Can you mix different kinds of dog fur from different dogs? etc.
Thank you!

No spinners have any thoughts on this?

I would love to hear any response to this. I too am interested in spinning dog hair. I do have some but its very short from a Brichon Frizea (sorry..forgot the spelling).

Rowena

I haven't spun dog hair, but I can't imagine it would be much different than any other fiber. Last night we were combing our cat, and I noticed how his fur is very much like angora. In which case, I would think that as long as you kept a lot of twist in it, to make up for the fact that it is probably very slick, it would make wonderful yarn!

With dogs, I've noticed they tend to have two coats, the outer and the inner. The inner is softer and the outer has the stiffer guard hairs. This is a great combo in the cold weather because it traps the air and keeps you all warm. So, the inner hair would be the stuff you'd want to spin with, I'd think...unless you don't mind a stiffer texture or pointy guard hairs poking out of your yarn. Get a dog brush and lift up some of their outer coat as they are shedding, and brush out some of this softer fur. Then just spin as you would any other fine, extra soft fiber. You could also blend it with a soft wool to give it more body and decrease the amount of twist you'd have to use.

Hope this helps out!

Cara

I have spun dog hair. Its just pretty much like spinning wool. Knitting with Dog Hair by Kendall Crolius and Anne MOntgomery. You can buy this book from Amazon.com This book has a lot of information about spinning different breeds, preping the fiber, knitting and patterns plus other stuff too. It is worth getting.

OK, here comes the voice of pessimism. I know that fur itself does not cause allergic reactions, its the dander. But how can you be sure that you can get the fur clean enough? Or do you just make sure you never send it as a gift to someone wit asthma? <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've spun Chow Chow, Samoyed, Pomeranian, Tibetan Spaniel and Old English Sheep Dog. If you use the soft undercat of the double coat breeds it blooms wonderfully, like angora. It does seem to need a bit more twist and blends very well with sheep wool. And for the Asthma question...I am an asthmatic who is allergic to dogs. Smart to spin the fur? Maybe not, but it didn't cause problems when it was clean and I made a point of washing ME down after a spinning session. I do have a friend who can not wear natural animal fiber of any kind, she breaks out in a rash no matter how clean the garment, so it isn't just dander.

I have things I've made with dog fur, specifically the softer undercoat from my Shelties and my Collie. The garments have a pretty halo about them, just like angora and mohair, depending on the coarseness of the fiber. On one sweater I used the doghair/sheepswool blend to knit in a bunny pattern on the yoke of a sweater. The bunnies are just barely visible, the halo almost obscures them now, but I know they are there and the fur is from my collie who is no longer with me in person, so to speak.

I've usually carded the dog hair (chiengora - the term I've seen it called but I probably spelled it wrong!) with sheep's wool and that is what I prefer doing. The one time I spun the dog hair alone I had problems with it shedding from the garment it's in. My theory (I think I heard it from Pegg first!) is that the wool tends to grab the dog hair fibers and hold them in the yarn.

Our newest pet is a Sheltie/Spitz mix breed, and his undercoat is very pretty soft gold. Most of his coat is white and the rest is very light in color. He sheds like crazy and I brush him every other day or so, saving the fur in a bag as it comes out. I plan to card this with wool in about a 50/50 blend. I think that is about the right mix to hold the dog hair in the yarn well.

Hi Laura!
Yes, it has been my experience that blending dog hair with sheep wool is the way to go. Pure dog hair sheds out of the yarn because it is a true hair and therefore lacks both elasticity and crimp. Wool provides both of these to the yarn and makes a more stable, useable product.

Buck, our St. Bernard, has quite a coat. We got him in June all shaved down (he was a rescue dog) and now he's just beautiful! I think his coat is almost 100% grown back in so I should start saving the combings now. It's a gorgeous combination of white, buff and red.

Pegg

I haven't spun with dog hair but prewashing is a good idea to get the dander out. Also a rinse with a couple drops of Lysol Blue deoderizer will help(at least it helps me with Mohair to get the smell out)
Several gals at guild spin with the dog hair but since I have so many fibers (and will never in a lifetime get to try them all no sense in trying the dog fur since I have allergies to the dander)
One lady at guild gets her Angora prefessionally processed to get the dander out and her processed fiber doesn't bother me.
Diane

If you pre-wash your dog hair before spinning, be very, very careful not to felt it. I've never tried to pre-wash but have seen several attempts by others (experienced spinners who know how to wash fibers) that have become felted and therefore not usable. Apparently dog hair, the soft undercoat anyway, is very prone to felting. I helped a friend this summer run a bunch of dog hair through my picker. We only saved about half of what she had.

Check out the latest issue of Spin Off. They have a feature on spinning dog fur with pictures of each breed. It was really neat!

I have blended samoya and kid mohair together. I made my daughter a scarf when she was in college. It was very soft and fluffy. She really liked it and kept her warm going to classes.

nancy

I have spun with various dog hair and i always pre wash adding lemon juice or vinegar to the water to get any strong smell out.Then you can spin it using a little more twist than wool and ply it tightly.Its certainly a lot easier to spin if you blend it with wool though.I spent a lot of time picking out guard hair from some breeds though. so i prefer to have the brushings of the undercoat from my own dog or others like her they can be soft as cashmere.