Pet Hair to Yarn

tilllie · 03-09-2007, 10:44 AM

I just saw this on the news and checked out the web site...vipfibers.com
You can send them animal hair and they will make it into yarn. you can even buy sample cards of what various breed yarns will feel like! I have always wondered what they would smell like if a dog hair sweater got wet!!!

mwedzi · 03-09-2007, 04:09 PM

hi tillie. we had a post on this very thing a little while ago
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting...ighlight=smell

MaryB · 03-09-2007, 04:14 PM

The Today Show just did a piece on a lady who had a sweater made from her cat's hair. I guess it looked nice. I don't think I would want to wear pet hair--------------------oh, wait, I mean knowingly wear pet hair, not the fur you pick up from the shedding pet.

I did have a lady ask if we could spin her dying cat's fur. She wanted to needlepoint a picture of her cat and use his fur. We said NO!

feminine_earth · 03-09-2007, 04:29 PM

MaryB, why did you guys say no?

Silver · 03-09-2007, 04:37 PM

Hmm... I just posted on my blog about that little piece on the Today show and how it offended me that they thought it was so funny.

There's nothing wrong with knitting with pet fur. It's no different than knitting with sheep fur. Or goat fur. Or rabbit fur.. or ANY animal fur.

Dog and cat fur may smell like the animal when it's wet, but so does wool. Why is a barnyard animal's fur ok if dog and cat fur is not ok? Makes no sense to me. I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of wearing wet sweaters anyway, so who cares what it smells like when it's wet??

I say use whatever fiber you want, and be proud of the work you put into it!!

mwedzi · 03-09-2007, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by Silver

Hmm... I just posted on my blog about that little piece on the Today show and how it offended me that they thought it was so funny.

There's nothing wrong with knitting with pet fur. It's no different than knitting with sheep fur. Or goat fur. Or rabbit fur.. or ANY animal fur.

Dog and cat fur may smell like the animal when it's wet, but so does wool. Why is a barnyard animal's fur ok if dog and cat fur is not ok? Makes no sense to me. I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of wearing wet sweaters anyway, so who cares what it smells like when it's wet??

I say use whatever fiber you want, and be proud of the work you put into it!!

Vendie · 03-09-2007, 04:50 PM

Heck, I knit my own hair into just about anything I make

MaryB · 03-09-2007, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by feminine_earth

MaryB, why did you guys say no?

We said no because needlepoint stores are really not into spinning yarn. That is more for the knitting and weaving. We had no supplier that would do this.

feminine_earth · 03-09-2007, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by MaryB

Originally Posted by feminine_earth

MaryB, why did you guys say no?

We said no because needlepoint stores are really not into spinning yarn. That is more for the knitting and weaving. We had no supplier that would do this.

Ohhhh, ok, I understand.

bip · 03-09-2007, 07:18 PM

Ah, come on, you have to have a sense of humor about this. It IS really funny. That isn't to say it isn't also cool and that there aren't a lot of reasons to do it. A woman I ride horses with and I are both thinking about having it done with our horses' hair. Her horse is older and she has had him since before he was born (she had the mom and is the one who bred him), so it is very sentimental for her. My horse is still young, but she is super soft and shiny, so I would hope the yarn would have those characteristics too. Plus, I just kind of think that you should try everything once, particularly when it comes to different kinds of yarn! It may turn out beautiful or really bizarre, I don't know, but it certainly seems fun ... and really funny. Come on, admit it, it is funny (don't get me started about how funny it is that we wear wool, silk, etc. I mean can you imagine the first guy who looked at the sheep and was like, "Hey, that looks warm. I've got an idea..." )