Zoona

Zoona lives with inventor and stiltwalker Larry Dobson.

It took some work to clean and untangle the bag of hair Larry gave me, but persistence yields

results and I was able to spin some yarn, of which a sample swatch is shown.

Rita

Rita lives with Gwen, the Clinton librarian. Gwen gave me a very small batch of Rita's hair, which was able to produce this small bag.

the model

Here are front and back views of a hat, courtesy of Ganda; a scarf, courtesy of Tashi; a skein of yarn, courtesy of Gus; and the shawl, courtesy of Shaktipaw, with help of an unnamed alpaca.

introducing Ganda

Ganda came to us in 2001 and promptly began shedding large quantities of hair all over the place. It took me a while, but I figured out that her hair was long and very soft, so I started spinning it. I made two hats, one heavy and one light. They are warm, fuzzy, lightweight, completely waterproof, and (to my prejudiced way of thinking) very beautiful.

Ganda taught me the benefits of spinning dog hair and I've gone from her to other, different dogs.

Shaktipaw

This is Shaktipaw, probably the only toy poodle registered service dog. Shaktipaw's person, Theresa, claimed he made her laugh, and that was a great service.

As most poodles, Shaktipaw was pruned and groomed regularly, and Theresa gave me the trimmings. These are much harder to work with than brushed out hair. And of course, being small, Shaktipaw's hair is quite short. All of which led to my having to mix it with another fibre. Conveniently, I had a silver grey baby alpaca fleece sitting around and mixed the two. The result, displayed on the model, is attractive, light weight, and very warm.

Gus

Gus is an obviously very good looking guy. I was given a large bag of his hair and am still spinning it. I look forward to being able to knit up the yarn. It feels very soft to the touch. A skein is hanging from the shoulder of the model.

And here are the gloves made from Gus's hair. They are very warm and comfortable.

Tashi

Tashi lives with a friend of a friend on Orcas Island. I was brought a small bag of hair, just enough to make the scarf hanging round the neck of the model. His hair is soft, but a bit scratchy.