My high school German teacher (who was Danish) made beautiful sweaters from her
malamutes' hair. I used to have a Mala-mutt that produced the loveliest pure
white under coat fluff that we saved for another woman that spun and knitted
sweaters from dog hair.
As for the stench - a lot of this depends on the dog's lifestyle. Not always,
but typically, a dog that is not allowed access to lovely odorous things to
roll in - this includes normal ordinary organic matter - tends not to stink
horribly when wet.
Annette M
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:16:04 -0400
From: "Shane & Sheridan"
Subject: Re: [h-cost] Was carpet sweeper, now dog hair
To: "Historical Costume"
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Subject: Re: [h-cost] Was carpet sweeper, now dog hair
> At 1:50 PM -0700 10/18/05, Cynthia J Ley wrote:
> >I haven't yet, but a friend of mine who is a spinner did. Made some very
> >successful yarn from it too. She said it didn't need blending because it
> >already had a nice twist in it and made a fairly strong yarn.
>
> When I was actively spinning, I was asked if I'd take a commission
> from a local afghan (hound) club to make an "afghan afghan." I
> thought it was a cute idea but didn't have the time.
>
> I believe there's also a book on using dog hair in weaving -- IIRC
> it's titled or subtitled (yes really) "From Woof to Warp."
>
> I suppose the temptation was irresistible, really....
> --
For some dog owners the temptation is more a survival reaction. :-)
My uncle raises Alaskan Malamutes, and often puppy-sits for other Mala-mutt
owners. He has had up to 25 dogs at his acreage at one time. That's a LOT of
dog fluff! My Malamutt every spring would shed a garbage bag's worth of soft
undercoat, her favorite thing was to sit with me outside and let me pull
handfuls of the stuff off of her - much easier than trying to scratch it off
herself I'm sure. A friend of my uncle's would come and collect the fluff
from him and other Malamute and Samoyed owners then spin and knit the
colletion every year, she made a nice bit of money at the season's dog
shows selling the results. Softer than you might think, and very warm. :-)
Sheridan
(missing my dog now...)
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 05:31:04 -0500
From: "Land of Oz"
Subject: [h-cost] now dog hair
To: "Historical Costume"
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
I can confirm that dog hair makes lovely fabric, whether woven or knit or
felted. Any dog that blows a fine, soft undercoat (usually in the spring)
makes a good candidate. If it's at least an inch and a half long, most
people will not be able to distinguish it from angora (rabbit) in a finished
object. The main objection is odor. If the dog smells, the fabric will too.
Sometimes the odor can be washed out at the yarn stage, but sometimes it
can't.
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