If you intend to collect and send me fiber, please read this page and Clippings Vs. Brushings.
12oz of unprocessed fur is the maximum order limit.
I specialize in 100% Dog and Cat fur yarns, but make blended yarn on a case-by-case basis. (If you live in a warm climate and want to tone down the insulating properties of your dog’s or cat’s fur a bit, blending their fur with bamboo or silk is a good option for you).
Double-coated dogs and cats that shed have undercoats that work for making 100% Dog/Cat yarns. For cats that are clipped, please read the page on clippings, linked above. If you have a non-shedding dog, I accept orders for hair-coated dogs on a case-by-case basis–please email me to discuss your pup and their potential yarn. You can also read the page on clippings, linked above, which is applicable for having yarn made from non-shedding dogs.
I’m not accepting fur from single-coated shedding animals at this time.
Feel free to email me to talk about about coat types and what you may expect from your dog’s or cat’s fur!
Do not send any of these:
- Matted fur
- Fur that is heavily soiled or filled with vegetable matter–seeds, burs, etc.
- Fur pulled out of a vacuum
- Fur from animals with fleas, other skin parasites, or skin conditions
- Fur from animals recently treated with flea or tick applications
- Fur that has been stored with mothballs.
- Fur that is infested with clothes moths or carpet beetles (if you see pale tan or white moths flitting around the fiber or its storage space, or beetles in or around it, or cocoons in it, or shed larval or pupal skins, don’t send it––I will have to throw it out).
Other considerations:
- Unless your dog is abnormally filthy, it’s not necessary to wash your dog in preparation for collecting their fur. I wash all incoming fur as a matter of course.
- Collect the fur in paper bags rather than plastic, which will help minimize felting (especially if you’re collecting cat fur, which felts very easily, or collie-type downy undercoats. Husky-type undercoats are less at risk because they don’t tend to mat much). Plastic bags contribute to the fur matting together.
- To prevent clothes moths and carpet beetles from discovering the fur, store the paper bags of fiber in plastic bins with gasket lids, or put the paper bags inside an airtight garbage bag. Don’t store the fiber with mothballs.
- Do not bag up wet or damp fur for storage. Spread it out to dry first. Fur might not be able to be saved if mold and mildew grow.
- Always collect dog and cat fur separately, since they have different washing requirements and need to be washed separately.
- It’s best not to mix fibers from different dogs or cats into the same bag, due to differing textures and fiber lengths, unless you don’t mind yarn that differs in softness or texture throughout the skein. If you want a more uniform yarn that includes all your animals’ fur, I could do a more thorough blending of their fur and charge the blending rate.
- Ideally, send brushings, not clippings, unless you have one of the following exceptions (or happen to shave your pet anyway for summer): Poodles and long-haired cats. They produce high-quality clippings. Other non-shedding breeds can offer nice clippings as well (Kerry Blue Terrier, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, etc.). If you intend to send clippings or are considering whether to use clippings or brushings, please read this.
- If your dog has a shedding season or two annually—weeks-long affairs of massive shedding, amounting to more than the typical year-round constant—that’s the best time to collect. The best fiber is available then, and is coming out by the handful. At the end of shedding season or during the off-season, the fur can get coarse and be full of guards hairs. No need to collect that stuff, or if you do, collect it separately, as it will decrease the quality of the final yarn if the coarse hairs are mixed with the prime fluff. Some dogs just have coarser undercoats on certain parts of their body, too, which is something to keep an eye out for while collecting.
Allergy notice:
My yarn is spun in a home that processes wool, alpaca, dog fur, cat fur, and occasionally angora and mohair. While I try to handle each type of fiber separately, and primarily only spin fiber after it’s been washed and the allergens depleted (I always wash dog and cat fur before spinning), I can’t guarantee there is no cross-contamination between fibers.
Certain fibers have their own dedicated tools to minimize fiber mixing, and some tools are able to be washed in-between fiber types, but other shared tools cannot be washed.
If I’m making a custom yarn where I know there are allergy concerns, I can take more precautions throughout the process with tool choice and tool washing, but the other fibers will still be, or have been, present in my home. Please let me know if you have an allergy to lanolin, angora, alpaca, dogs, cats, or fragrances.
If you’d like to message me, I’m happy to tell you about my setup and give you a run-down of how I operate so you can make a more informed decision.