Friday, January 12, 2007

Dog´s fur


As a spinner I love to spin dogs fur. This cardigan and the purses are all produced with the fur of our two "Serra da Estrela" dogs, a mountain shepherd breed from the Portuguese mountains. They are clever, funny, and quite big. Fluffier than mohair.
I can answer the F.A.Q´s----No, the dog is not sheared but combed and groomed when it is moulting!!!
Nevertheless a dog´s parlour (http://www.vidadecao.pt/) gives me very good fur to spin.
In pré-colonial North America dog´s fur was the raw material for native rugs. Sheep´s wool was later introduced by the Europeans. Their woolly-dogs have since been extinct.

1 comment:

lyn said...

Hi again, Tita!
Here in the U.S. we have "weaving & spinning guilds", groups that are formed of people who share a common love of working with fibers. I loved your dog hair & spindle posts so much that I emailed my fellow guild members to share your blog with them. I hope they visit & enjoy reading your blog!
Lyn