Put Away Your Cashmere...There's a New Sweater Material in Town!

(originally written 7-14-2007)

The other day, I came across a book title that I knew I had to purchase, Knitting with Dog Hair. Forget the fact that I don't knit. I was intrigued. How, exactly, does one go about knitting scarves, mittens, and even sweaters with the hair of one's faithful companion? I had to find out.

The process of collecting, harvesting, washing, carding, spinning, and then knitting your Poochy Parka is about as labour intensive as growing and harvesting your own personal 20 acre garden using 18th century technology. Let's assume that you actually have TIME left over after caring for and feeding your pets.

First, there is the grooming of your dog. Now, this is something that has to be done anyway, but if you want to recycle Fido's hair into a pair of socks, you need to be prepared with a bag or something so you can collect the hair. Okay, so far so good. Next, however, is WASHING the fur. Reading the instructions, which claim this is a simple task, it occurred to me that washing the hair while it's still attached to a live, wiggly dog would be easier. Wash, wash, wash...several times, then rinse all the soap out, etc. THEN, you have to put all the hair out on towels to dry. Just who has extra room for that?

Let's assume you've made it this far, and it's still the 21st century. Next, you must card the washed and dried hair. I'm not sure I understand this process because reading about it was about as tedious as I imagine actually doing it is. After you've bored yourself stupid carding the hair, you must actually SPIN it into yarn. This is where having a long-haired breed or a breed with lots of undercoat, like the Huskies, is an advantage. It also involves actually buying a spindle or making a drop spindle. Making one...yeah.

Okay, so let's say that someone who is really dedicated or someone who really has A LOT of time on her hands has gotten this far. It is now time to knit that sweater or scarf or mittens or socks or whatever, using yarn spun from the loose hair of your best friend. How cool is that?

I had thought about taking up knitting and imagined that I could knock out half of my Christmas list by giving Dougal hair scarves, Sitka hair socks, and maybe even a Loki hair sweater, Prancer hair ear muffs, or Xena hair mittens. After reading all of those instructions, however, I believe that I will stick with simply brushing the dogs, and giving gift certificates to the people on my holiday list. I think we'll all be much happier that way!