Today I took Mamie to the groomer for a day of beauty.
Actually, it was more of a necessity than one more frivolous
spoiled-Florida-dog indulgence. The Mamester has hair, not fur, and without
regular trips for a trim, she’d probably turn into a completely round ball of
white that I could roll down the sidewalk.
Still, her
coat is so soft, she’s delightful to pat when she’s all wooly. Kiddingly, last
night My Guy and I recalled a person we’d seen on TV who, in a joke family
gift-giving session, combed and spun the hair from the family dog and knitted a
pair of shorts out of it. I relayed this to the groomer this morning and
instead of smiling and dismissing me as just another nutty customer, told me
her own story.
As though it was the most normal thing in the world, she told me she’d
actually worked with a fellow groomer who saved the clippings from her favorite
dogs. Apparently she had blankets all over her house to remember them by.
Agreed,
right? That’s just creepy?
I was given a book of crafts to make from cat fur. And no, it wasn't a joke (well the gift was, though the book wasn't). Not a happening thing here.
ReplyDeleteNot at all creepy, although it's something I would never do. I have an elderly neighbour who has small rugs everywhere for her cats to lie on and they are woven from cat hair that she spun and then wove on her own small tabletop loom. Some of the rugs also have alpaca hair that she gets from a friend out in the country.
ReplyDeleteMamie sure is cute! But yeah, I think it's creepy to make things out of the hair of favorite pets. But to each his/her own. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs a spinner, I often was asked to spin cat or dog hair into yarn, generally for mittens. As a spinner, I knew my fiber business, and gave seldom followed instructions. The hair to be spun must be from brushing, not clipping. Clipped hair is blunt at both ends and spins into a less than desirable yarn.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I have a dog hair story. A fellow had two huge feed sacks of Samoyed brushings from his two dogs. Would I make him a sweater? I did. He wore it ice skating on Cleveland's outdoor rink. Without warning he collapsed on the ice and was unconscious. The paramedics pulled off his sweater. Steam rose into the air. He was dangerously overheated.
Those dogs grow the hair to be warm. I could write another paragraph on the difference between hair and fleece; I will just say hair's properties hold heat to the body. Fleece properties release heat. Hair is good for mittens and marginally good for socks (it wears through sooner than fleece), but not for sweaters for ice skating and other frivolous activity.
Wow. Who knew? Apparently not me - about the different properties or the popularity of this whole phenomenon !
DeleteNow THAT is a story!
DeleteI heard Samoyed owners could sell their dogs hair to be used in making dolls.
ReplyDeleteCreepy and surely very itchy?
ReplyDeleteCreepy. Yes. I can't even imagine how much dog hair it would take to make even a small blanket!
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ReplyDeleteI have a cat with long almost angora underfur that he grows and sheds year round. A friend of mine, a spinner, weaver, said she'd love to try using Charlie fur for a spinning project. Sadly, it just didnt work, because it has such static properties it clings to itself and refuses to lie down flat for the spinning. So we both turned out Charlie fur out for the birds to make warm nests.
ReplyDeleteI did know a woman who used her yorkie combings (and I suspect those of her friends) for knitting, and they were the softest, lightest warmest mittens i have ever seen...
Creepy AF, a hard pass from me :)
ReplyDeleteMamie is such a sweetie pie. Glad you visited my blog. Thank you. I've been stuck on yours for some time now, reading the interesting and fun posts I've missed. Bet Eli's hair could be woven into something. Maybe even a blanket in just a couple of days. :)
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