My Wheel's Gone to the Dogs!

Yep..it's about spinning pooch, plying fido and all things about chiengora (with a few allergy pills to boot)

Most spinners I know are avid collectors of just about any fiber they can sqiush betweeen their fingers. We have spun cotton tops from pill bottles, attempted to make yarn out of dryer lint, proclaimed loudly to other spinners when we get a mere ounce of vicuna, yak, or buffalo. But spinning dog? Seriously?

Heh. Why not..if you own one, the supply is abundant. Chiengora is more thermal than wool, and the super hollow core makes a lightweight but durable yarn.

But what about the doooog smell? Who would wear anything that will make them smell like their family pet?

There will be a recipie at the end of the blog for de-stinking the stuff. We don't smell like barn yard animals when we wear wool..because it is cleaned. And trust me..I have cleaned far more POOP (and gawd knows what else) out of sheep and alpaca. The family dog just gets a little dusty from playing in the park..and he gets bathed regularly.

And what could express love for your constant companion more than wearing something out of their down?

Scandinavians and Native Americans were both known to spin and wear dog down..if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me. And I can dye mine in cool colors!

So the subject used for this lovely spinning example was Crazy Sam the Siberian Husky..who interestingly enough, really likes to watch my spinning wheel go round and round (would love to know what is going through that noggin of his sometimes)

Rosie, his companion supports the effort by either lying at my feet adoringly, or stealing Sam's bed while he is entranced by my wheel. Being a weim, she doens't have a spinnable undercoat, but we love her sleek softness just as much! As usual, the hubby was kind enough to take pictures of the current escapade on the edge of insanity spinning.

We got about 8 oz of good fiber of Sam with a few brushings. (Think about this very hard before owning a Siberian...we have only had him a few months, and there is probably just as much "fiber" on the couch and floor at this time)

The best way to collect dog down is either with a rake or a slicker. It collects the soft UNDERCOAT of the dog, and not the guard hairs, which make for some scratchy yarn.

Rakes look an like a nice long wool comb and guess what? They will help de-hair like one too if you have a set of them!

I can't find Sam's slicker to take a picture of, he probably ate it. Or buried it in the back yard. Or Rosie hid it to get me to blame him for its disappearance.

I stored his fluff in a large ziplock bag until I had enough to spin. I tried washing a batch first, but it clumped and pretty much felted the minute it hit the water. Now I just clean it afterwards.

Dog hair is full of static in this climate..if you decide to give spinning it a try, put a dryer sheet in the ziplock bag or spritz it with some watered down conditioner. Your clothes and allergies will love you for it later.

So..now to sit at the wheel and give it a spin. Amazingly, both dogs cooperated and damn near posed to have a cute picture of them taken next to the wheel. Awwwwww.

My wheel allows for both double drive and scotch tension. Double drive was a bit too strong and had less control (the spun single would fly out of my hand, untwist, turn in to fluff and cause a lot of swearing to get a new leader yarn out again that didn't drift apart.)

So..larger whorl, scotch tension.

Dog down needs quite a lot of twist. Not to the point of corkscrewing, but a good firm amount. It feels horrible and rough on the bobbin. Don't worry..it softens nicely when plied.

After trying several draw techniques, I found the most consistent for Sam's down was forward long draw. His down has super short fibers, and this was by far the most controlled technique for spinning them. I just finished a box of Newfoundland down, and that did better with a double long draw. Fiddle wit it until it works for you.

Here's a picture of the wheel, set up on single drive scotch tension on the 2nd largest whorl, with Samgora on the bobbin. Nice eh?

I used a fairly long leader yarn to begin. Grab a handful of dog down, lay the leader yarn in it, treadle to build up the twist and let it grab the down. Rock n' Roll!

There are probably more pics than text at this point, so keep scrolling...

Laying the leader yarn in the hand full of down

Using my thumb and forefinger to control the amount of twist catching in the fluff. No comments on the pink pants please.

Doin da forward long draw! The fiber hand controls the amount of dog down coming out with the thumb and fore fingers, the twist is regulated by the drawing hand between the thumb and first two fingers. Clear as mud eh?

After I get enough drawn out, I treadle to put a few more twists in then wind on to the bobbin.

Occasionally, you get a glump of fur coming out of your hand. I use the drafting hand to untwist the lump, while pulling gently back with the fiber hand. When the "bump" has been drafted out to the same thickness, let the twist run in to it.

Sam's fiber needed to sit on the bobbin for a few days to let the twist settle and make it easier to ply. Plying before this made the yarn really weak and whispy.

I did a simple 2 ply yarn before the IMPORTANT finishing process. Dog down should be fulled. And by fulled I mean you full until it dang near felts if it is a weaker yarn. And we also come to the part about not smelling like your pooch when you knit with this stuff.

Wash the skein in a deep bowl with about a gallon of water. Add about 3-4 table spoons of washing soda (NOT baking soda, it ain't strong enough!) and NO soap for the first wash. Pummel the crap out of the yarn to get the dirt out, and let the soda mixture permeate those fibers. Let it soak for not more than 5 minutes, as washing soda is pretty caustic and will happily munch on your creation after this.

Rinse ALL of the soda out in the same temperature the water has cooled to. Squish squish squish until it is allllll gone.

Run another bath in the bowl of warm water and dog shampoo. Neat thing about this stuff is it has deodorizers in it MADE to take that doggy smell away from your friend. It will do it for the yarn too! Pummel again to make sure the soap gets all the way in. Rinse in cool water.

Lastly, fill the bowl up again, and add about 1/4 cup plain ol vinegar. This will neutralize any soda remaining, condition the fur a bit, and further deodorize it. You can add a few drops of nice smelling conditioner if you want. The vinegar smell goes away when the skein dries.

Rinse lightly, and dry/ block as normal.

Here is a picture of finished Samgora for the Big Bad Wolf series I am starting, as well as some Loki yarn, from the newfoundland I spun. Have fun spinnin yer pooch! You can buy the Loki yarn at my shop www.rumplestiltskeins.etsy.com. 20% of the profits from ALL cheingora yarn are donated to the ASPCA.