A memento of a dear friend for a dear friend
This photo is of some of my spinning. Usually I spin fibres like sheep, alpaca, rabbit or silk; sometimes something truly exotic like camel or buffalo. Most times, the fibre I’m spinning is totally anonymous (very rarely do I know the name of the animal it came from, and only sometimes is it an animal I’ve known in person).
The two skeins on the left are Great Pyrenees dog hair. Those of you who are not familiar with dog hair as a yarn fibre might think that it is not suitable for this purpose, that it is scratchy and perhaps smelly, but this is not so. The undercoat of some breeds of dogs is as fine and soft and warm as the best angora or cashmere.
My friend Elisabeth had a Great Pyr named “Fleece” (appropriately enough), and over time she saved up a bag of combed-out undercoat that was set aside for spinning “some day” — Elisabeth is a novice spinner and perhaps was waiting until she was better at it before tackling this precious fibre from her good friend. Dog hair is short, and slippery, and not the easiest thing to spin.
After ten years with Elisabeth, Fleece died. Elisabeth was heart-broken, and almost two years on, when she speaks about Fleece, you can see that the dog is much loved, and much missed. I don’t remember whether Elisabeth asked me to spin the Fleece fibre, or whether I offered to do it. It doesn’t really matter. I think Elisabeth feels that she owes me something for doing this spinning for her and she gave me a cone of her yummiest llama yarn as payment for my work. However, the real payment is one of friendship — Elisabeth honoured me by trusting me with this very precious work, and I am very pleased to be able to give her a tangible remembrance of her four-footed companion. Fleece’s loyal, giving nature lives on in strengthening the friendship of the humans who knew her. You can’t ask for much more from a dog.
Fleece
5 Comments
What a lovely thoughtful thing to do for a friend. Just remind her that whatever she makes from the yarn should NOT get wet or it will smell like wet dog!
Yes, that is one drawback with dog hair yarn — but with the weather we’re having here at the moment, nothing stays wet long. It just freezes and falls off, lol.
What a wonderful way to remember a pet!
Maybe yarn made from some dogs smells when wet, but I can positively tell you that the yarn made from Ganda absolutely does not. Ganda is an 80# blonde, whose ancestry probably includes Husky, Collie, and others. She has an outrageous tail with long flagging.
Anyway, my partner Marianne spins the brushings (we have shopping bags full) and its incredibly light, soft, silky, and warm. People think its angora. When wet its absolutely waterproof and odorless. And Marianne does not wash or card it before spinning it. She doesn’t mix other kinds of fiber with it, though I’ve suggested that mixing it with some alpaca might be interesting.
Steve, you’re lucky that Ganda’s hair doesn’t smell doggy when wet. I’ve noticed that both sheep and alpaca have an odour when wet, and I don’t know about Fleece’s hair because I haven’t wet it, but I did do a commission spinning of some Newfie hair, and it really stank badly both dry and more especially when wet(it had been stored, unwashed, for years, and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the smell out). Fleece’s hair has no particular odour when dry, so perhaps it will be just as nice damp.
I offered to blend Fleece’s hair with some sheep or alpaca, but Elisabeth wanted it 100% Fleece. I haven’t tried alpaca with dog, but have spun a blend with angora (which dog is very much like), and it’s quite lovely. Very, very warm, of course.
On the whole, I like knitting with yarn that has a little elasticity, so I often blend some sheep into the inelastic fibres like alpaca and angora.
I do card the Fleece fibre before spinning, so I can do a sort of modified long-draw, but it’s just as spinnable uncarded if I use a different method.
I hope you have some great items made from Ganda’s hair!