My sister arrived for a visit in February and after "Hello" the first thing she said as she handed me a shopping bag, was, "Here is some of Mishka's fur for you to spin." Mishka is my sister's little pomeranian dog. A tiny little thing. It has taken my sister 8 months to collect enough of his coat to make these three balls of yarn for knitting. There are now 5 balls, counting the two I spun at Christmas a year ago. With dilligent brushing there should be another bag waiting for me when I visit my sister later in the year. This drawn out process occurs because Mishka lives in Queensland with my sister and we don't get to see each other very often. There's enough there for a hat at present but who needs a woolly hat in Queensland? We're aiming at a vest so we have a little way to go yet.
The lovely soft stuff that I spin is from Mishka's second coat, the fuzzy stuff you can't see until you part the longer hair. All spitze variety of dogs have this second coat and it is an absolute dream to spin. It feels like a cross between angora and mohair. I use a lightweight drop-spindle to spin the yarn as I find I get less overspin this way. And I used 6.5 ml needles to knit the sample. I'm looking forward to seeing what my sister will make from it.
It's newsletter time again so I'd better be off. I hope you are having a good day in your corner of the world. Bye for now until next time.
It looks so soft to knit, and what a bonus when its free :)).
ReplyDeleteI never knew when spinning that there is a different spindle.. Lets face it, I don't know a great deal about spinning. I have a portable wheel, only used it once. What a shame we don't live closer, you could give me a few lessons :))
Hope your day is going to be sunny..
hugs pat in tas :))
How wonderful!! I have been collecting Wilbur-fur to learn to spin. I think I may have enough to make a small scarf at this point.
ReplyDeletePat It is lovely and soft and something precious to have when little Mishka is no longer here. It is a shame we don't live closer. I enjoy spinning and would be delighted to help you out.
ReplyDeleteLaurie, I made a scarf from dear old Sam's fur. (daughter's beloved samoyed now passed on) So warm to wear, washes like wool and a lovely memory of Sam.
Oohhhh lovely my little dog is a pomeranien/cross but I keep his coat quite closely cropped because he likes rolling about in the grass*!*
ReplyDeleteAnnie, Ugh. Can't they get their coat in a mess that way? Grass seeds & burrs take ages to remove.
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