Gunnar visits a professional groomer a few days before each show. I was hoping that he would hold off on blowing his coat until after the show, which he did, but he IS shedding. His groomer was kind enough to collect what she could while grooming him.
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| 10 5/8 ounces collected by our Groomer |
At the show, I gave him a good raking and brushing before each "show groom" and collected what I could.
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| 3/4 ounce collected by me at the Dog Show |
Between the two of us, we collected 11 3/8 ounces (322.5 grams) of undercoat last week.
The Tibetan Mastiff undercoat is very soft and has a nice amount of crimp. Depending on the dog and where the fur is collected from it can have a reasonably long staple length.
Gunnar's undercoat is averaging about 2 inches.
I have not had time to turn any of my TM fiber into roving yet and have not spun from a cloud on the drop spindle before, so I gave it a try last night...
It's a very fuzzy yarn, but deliciously soft. :-)
Maybe I'll bring a drop spindle the next time I'm at a show with a shedding dog. ;-)
Also, just so you know that I'm not only about the dogs... I got a little knitting time with my Palindrome Scarf over the weekend as well. :-)
Happy Fiber Arts Friday... and Happy Spring!
8 comments:
It must be soft....
Wow look at all that fibre, I can almost feel the fluffiness... imagining a picture of you running your hands through the dog's fur and immediately spinning the fibre as you collect it ;-)
I confess my image of dog hair is not that it is so soft and fine, but that bag of fluff looks exactly like fleece, who knew:-)
I love it. I just wish I could reach through my screen to feel it. It looks so soft and fluffy.
I washed and brushed the dogs today, but because they have hair and not fur, not much gets "harvested" when I brush them. LOL! but they always try to eat the fuzz balls I pull out of the brush. Silly dogs.
The dog hair almost looked like Yak in the one photo. I think you should take your spindle to the next show. Love it!
Wow! I would never have thought about using dog fur. Kudos for resourcefulness! :)
That's a lot of undercoat! Once upon a time I worked in a grooming shop and occasionally the floors and walls would be covered by some sheddy dog's coat, but collecting your own dog's coat is so different. Look forward to seeing more about the Gunnar yarn :-)
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