How to Card Dog Hair for Spinning

Chiengora yarn knits into warm garments.

Any long-haired dog owner can attest that their beloved pet sheds a mountain of fur each season. Using this shed fur to spin yarn that can be used for knitting or crocheting may sound a little odd, but spinning dog hair into "chiengora" (a portmanteau word that combines the French word for dog, "chien," with "angora") is not considerably different from spinning sheep's wool. Dog fur, like any other fiber, will need to be carded to prepare it for spinning.

Things You'll Need

• Liquid castile soap
• Basin with warm water
• Collected dog fur
• Pair of hand carders
• Small basket or bag for collecting carded fiber

Instructions

1. Wash the collected dog hair in a basin with castile soap and rinse thoroughly in warm water. Squeeze out excess water, then allow dog fur to dry completely.

2. Pick up one of the pair of hand carders and "load" it with a small amount of fur--spread the dog fur across the teeth so it is evenly distributed.

3. Hold the "loaded" carder in your left hand and support the left carder on your leg. This carder will stay stationary. Hold the other carder in your right hand--you use this carder to "brush" the fibers on the stationary carder, which is the process that fluffs and aligns the dog fur to ready it for spinning.

4. Brush the right carder across the teeth of the left carder so that you are essentially combing the fur and catching it in the right carder. Brush in one direction only.

5. Repeat Step 4 between five and 10 times until you have picked up approximately half the amount of dog fur from the left carder onto the right carder.

6. Line up the bottom edge of the left carder with the handle edge of the right carder. Place the ends of the dog fur onto the teeth of the right carder. Lift and transfer the dog fur to the right carder. Card the newly loaded carder, following Steps 3 through 6 until the dog fur is nicely separated, fluffy and well aligned.

7. Roll the fluffy mass of hair, now called a "rolag," off of the carder. Gather the rolags into a basket or small bag for later spinning.

8. Repeat Steps 2 through 7 with the remainder of your collected dog fur.

Tips & Warnings

• At the end of the process, you will have a small amount of remaining unprepared dog fur on one of the carders. You can dispose of this remainder or you can save it to help card future chiengora.

References

• Joy of Spinning: How To Prepare Fiber With Hand Carders
• "Yes It's Made from My Dog's Fur: An Owners Guide to Harvesting Your Pet's Coat and Spinning It into Yarn"; Detta Juusola; 1996.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish