Do you love your dogs? Do you want them to be remembered for a long time? Then, here is a great idea – collect your dog’s hair, spin the fur into yarn and convert the yarn into beautiful, designer sweaters. Above is a picture of a pet lover wearing sweater knitted from the hair of her beloved pet. No need to dispose the large amount of hair after grooming your pet. This provides a very good way to reuse the pet’s hair which is a waste into a useful stuff. This is about saving money, material and recycling. Go green!
In fact, this idea of using dog hair for weaving sweaters and other stuff is not new. For centuries, the Eskimos and Inuit have used this fur to create protective sweaters and scarfs. To our surprise, dog hair seems to be much warmer than wool – up to 80% more! An entire garment made with dog hair might be too hot to wear. Experienced people state that dog hair blended with wool will work best.
The best hair for this application are from ‘Northern’ breeds, such as Newfoundlands, Chow Chows, Samoyed, Norwegian Elkhounds and the like. However, we can make sweaters from other breeds as well. It is said that dogs would blow their coat twice a year – during fall and spring. Collecting dog hair enough to knit a sweater might take some time. But we could also think of weaving scarfs, hats, vests or mittens of our own choice based on the hair available. Knitting our own design of garment will be food for our creativity and art skill as well.
Some people may have a question – When dog hair coat gets wet, will it smell like wet dog? The answer is – No. It does not smell like a dog. In fact, dog hair coat will shed water. There are books available to help you with how to knit sweaters from dog’s hair. One of such books is by Author Kendall Crolius, “Knitting With Dog Hair: Better A Sweater From A Dog You Know and Love Than From A Sheep You’ll Never Meet”.
Pegg Thomas, a pet lover, mentions that he loves to spin his dog’s hair into wearable items for him and his family. He has provided detailed information on weaving a sweater from dog’s hair.
On the whole, this idea of weaving sweater or other garment from dog hair is a great treat to pet lovers and green lovers. This is a wonderful way to reuse the wastage so that the landfill will not become landful of wastes. And, this provides people make something out of their beloved pet which they could keep for a life time as a remembrance of their pet and that could remind the wonderful time spent with their pets. This would be a special gift shared by our pets with us!