Knitting with Dog Hair!!

Dog hair is great stuff - *if* it isn't from a stinky dog. Even squeaky clean dog fluff will have a wet-dog odor when damp but some of it smellier than others.

Wooly Blending dog fur, angora rabbit and finewool on hte carder preparatory to spinning it

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I have this book, \ it's quite good, not used it though, I \have two westies and get off a fine white \fuzz from them. I've spun\ it before, it \is quite interesting.

|Surely \you\ know someone with \a dog you can ask to bag up their fuzz from the combings?\ \ It'd be easier than buying one th\at you\ are gonna turn bald with your enthusiasm......ROFL>>..no seriously, why\ get a dog\ just for spinning it's coat, put out a local ad for dog combings a friend ofmine did and got tons of \it..what she gave the woman for it, was less than the pet food would cost a week...

Cheers.....Cher\

You may even be able to find a local shelter who would trade their combings for a couple hours of volunteer work!

LauraJ

What about just going to a dog groomer?

They rarely comb the fur, just clip it off, and sometimes it is too short, it's the combings you want really, as this is fuzz and not strands....more like rabbit fur then......

Wise words. I've read the story of the woman whose lovely doghair sweater got wet in the rain and absolutely nothing would remove the smell after that. Even the trash man grimaced when he emptied the trash can.

Do some breeds of sheep have smellier fleeces than others?

=Tamar

"Cher" wrote in news:iS9ge.8532$ snipped-for-privacy@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

it depends on the breed of dog. some breeds aren't ever clipped (unless there's serious matting or a heat problem). a good groomer would brush out dogs too, not just take on the fancy showclips. but... you don't usually want clipped dog hair because most breeds are double coated. they have longer guard hairs & a shorter, finer undercoat. the undercoat is what you want to spin. lee

snipped-for-privacy@radix.net (Richard Eney) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

yes! and male Angora goats reek! i bet a rug made from thier fiber smells awful too. lee

On Wed, 11 May 2005 12:53:58 +0000 (UTC), enigma spewed forth :

It seems to me that the greasier fleece the smellier it is. Sometimes that's not a bad thing. I really like the smell of a fresh greasy fleece but ram wool takes a bit of getting used to.

And yes, angora billies are nasty. The gal where I board my wether has an old angora billy. I won't go near him for shearing and I try to stay upwind during breeding season and for a few months afterwards. They stink so badly because they pee on their own chins and chests to make themselves more attractive to the girls. Yuck.

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LOL So glad this is only for the world of animals!

Gem

I won't tell the boys I teach about that, if you don't mind.

Katherine

LOL Katherine... boys can definitely be really naughty! I haven't even told Matthew about that, or he and his best friend would be in hysterics making silly comments about how they haven't tried *that* yet to get a girlfriend. LOL

Gem

Yikes. That sounds a bit on the gross side indeed.

My grandmother used to make Samoyed caps and slippers for everyone, when her dog was alive. Softest things I ever wore, softer than angora. Lovely things.

--Katrina

Quoth "Ted Jones" on 28 May 2005

...

Grosser than goat hair (cashmere and angora)?

Call it cheingora if "dog hair" sounds gross. It can be a lovely fiber, really!

----------------------------------------- Only know that there is no spork.