A totally normal British couple has made headlines by wearing sweaters, knitted out of the hair of their deceased pet dogs. Beth and Brian Willis have made two sweaters, one out of Kara, a Samoyed, and the other from Penny, a Swedish Lapphund.
I can't decide which one is hotter.
Says Mrs Willis in this exclusive article in the Peabody Award winning Daily Mail, "It is not actually a hair but a wool, which is why it is so good for clothes," and, "Apparently it is quite popular with lots of the people who breed long-haired dogs." You know what is even more popular? Not being a total freak.
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Comments
Come on, let your freak flag fly! Preferably one made from someone that has been your companion for the last decade or so.
Know what, that is a bit too weird.
Posted by: Hank | March 24, 2008 4:23 PM
You can almost see the guy's Grandpa Munster eyebrows behind the shades... Hell yeah, I'd wear one and my dear, departed dog would be mighty proud indeed to ride along whereever I went, even INSIDE the ice cream store!
Posted by: Matt Platte | March 24, 2008 4:56 PM
I think it's sweet. Most spinners and weavers I know (not talking mutant mouse strains here) mix dog wool with sheep wool to make a yarn that's better for knitting or incorporation into weavings. One of my aunts used hair from their Shetland sheepdog in a couple of her weavings, and I also know a woman who used hair from her Siberian husky to spin yarn for knitting.
Perhaps I reside in the freak zone, but I don't think the Samoyed and Lapphund wool sweaters are weird at all. I just wouldn't wear them in the rain.
Posted by: Barn Owl | March 24, 2008 5:24 PM
At least they're only wearing the wool. Cruella DeVille would never have stopped there.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | March 24, 2008 7:57 PM
My dog is a Pomeranian, so I'd have to start clipping him now and for the next couple of years to get enough fur for a proper sweater.
Posted by: patsymon | March 24, 2008 8:46 PM
It's a little unusual but I don't really see anything wrong with it, it's not like they're going all Cruella DeVille on their dogs.
Posted by: Gary F | March 24, 2008 9:58 PM
What's weird about it? It's a great way to remember a treasured pet.
Posted by: Doug Alder | March 25, 2008 12:46 AM
Too bad they lacked a skilled East-European furr craftsman, to turn their loved Lapphund into a ear-flaps hat
Posted by: milkshake | March 25, 2008 3:46 AM
So what's the big deal? I wear the wool of dead animals all the time -- presuming that the sheep ultimately responsible for my old sweaters are long gone.
Of course, MY sweaters aren't hideous....
Posted by: Theodosia | March 25, 2008 6:08 AM
You'd be surprised. Spinning magazines, in print and on line regularly have articles about how best to prepare and create "chiengora" ie, pet dog yarn. It's just like using sheeps wool, angora bunny fluff, alpaca, camel, qiviut, mohair, or even bear fiber.
Right now I'm spinning a yarn made of a mix of silk fibers, dog fiber, sheep wool, and a little synthetic fiber. It's all in natural beiges, browns, and blacks and creating quite a lovely yarn. I hope to use some good judgement in the final knitting of the yarn into a sweater though. I don't have any desire to actually look like the Sheltie for which the fiber mix was named.
A recent fiber arts magazine had a whole article on how to collect bear fiber right off the bear, prepare it and spin it. I don't know that I'm aiming to go that exotic for my next cardigan, though.
Frankly, silk is a lot more weird if you think about it.
Posted by: Liesele | March 25, 2008 9:06 AM
A recent fiber arts magazine had a whole article on how to collect bear fiber right off the bear
Wow. That would make for a sweater with a good story behind it, assuming you survived.
Posted by: El Christador | March 25, 2008 11:07 AM
People with large wooly shedding dogs frequently get a local spinner to make knitting yarn of the brushed out hair for mitts and scarves. It can be a very soft wool, and very pretty. I admit, though, if they actually shaved the dogs' cold corpses for the fur, that's a little weird.
Posted by: Bee | March 25, 2008 3:30 PM
I save the hair I brush from my Pomeranian to make a scarf to remember him from when he dies. The yarn is very soft and warm; just a tad more coarse than angora.
Posted by: kashkin | March 25, 2008 3:46 PM
El Christador, I'd definitely recommend sticking with a black bear, not a grizzly! They had photos and instructions and all the info you could ever want on brushing and collecting the bear's fiber. I think I'll stick with angora bunnies, and if I get really exotic I'll use chinchilla.
Posted by: Liesele | March 26, 2008 9:06 AM
Or how about a nice yak? I'd be afraid of the horns. http://bellingham.craigslist.org/grd/619333376.html
Posted by: Liesele | March 28, 2008 11:30 AM
Remember - Dog fur, no matter how you spin it, will always smell like WET DAWG when it gets wet!
Posted by: Arhanda | April 7, 2008 12:57 PM