Dottie's sweater

This is a very special sweater for my best friend Lisa. It is the first garment I have made for her using fiber from her own pet "Dottie" the sheep. The wool was spun in a medium weight 2ply. I had planned on weaving a rug with the fiber, because the raw fleece had quite a bit of kemp (a harsh hair like fiber within the softer wool fibers). Lisa expressed a wish for a wearable garment. I tried to discourage her thinking that this was not a "next to skin" yarn, but in the end compromised on a outer wear garment. Wanting the sweater comfortable, and wearable I went with a simple garter stitch on size 13 needles, using 2 strands of the 2ply wool. I made the collar and cuffs using one strand of wool and one strand of red merle Australian shepherd hair (2ply). The dog hair has a nice loft and in person almost gives the appearance of "fur" on the sweater. Lisa says there is no itchy feel to the sweater when wearing. Rene' her Great Pyrenees is hoping next year for Christmas he can supply the fiber for "mommy's" sweater

Tunis wool Baby Sweater

This sweater is made from 100% tunis fleece. I hand carded clean tunis wool and spun very thin single with a medium amount of twist. I plied the singles to create extremely soft 2ply baby yarn. I knitted this baby sweater using a free pattern downloaded from the internet.(the 5 hour baby sweater) I made some small changes when knitting the arms, but otherwise stuck to the pattern. The pattern included instructions for baby sizes and premie sizes. The sweater was shown at the New York State Sheep and Wool Show and placed 4th, a skein of matching wool placed 2nd. The sweater was made for a very special little boy Nathaniel Jefferson Belger that arrived into the world very early.

Malamute/Tunis wool sweater

This cabled sweater is also Kathy's from her other malamute Lucy. The sweater is an unique design just for Kathy. 2 single strands of 100% lucy hair were plied with a single strand of tunis yarn creating a balanced 3ply finished yarn. Although in pictures Lucy appears to be grey her undercoat reveiled her true color red. To match the beautiful cream color a tunis fleece was chosen. Tunis sheep are considered "red heads" they are born alburn and lighten as they age to a reddish creamy color. They retain the darked red color on their heads and legs.

Malamute/Jacob wool sweater

This sweater was created for a lovely woman named Kathy. Her malamute Buzz supplied us with over a pound of hair. The hair was blended with the wool from a jacob sheep. The resulting roving was then spun and plied to produce a sport weight yarn. This simple garter stitch sweater was knitted using two strands at the same time to achieve the required guage.

Special Dream Catcher

This Dream Catcher differs from my more traditional dream catchers. It has lavender satin ribbon woven around the ring instead of tanned leather. Several satin ribbons hang down from the conch on the left side of the dream catcher with small brass bells that emit a lovely tinkling sound when stirred by wind. Behind the conch there are ostrich feathers in natural brown and white. In the center of the conch is a blue teardrop crystal a sign of Grandfathers tears. On the top of the dream catcher is a goat skull hand painted with a lizard. The Native American animal sign for dreaming. Behind the skull are natural feathers from wild turkeys and snow geese. The web itself has fetishes and semi-precious stones woven throughout. Helping the good dreams in and leaving the bad dreams stuck in the web to be taken away by the light of day.

This dream catcher is for sale at $90.00. The stone in the conch can be replaced with an arrow head if buyer choose so. All dream catches are blessed and purified upon completion

Dalton and Issabeau

This is my Aussie with HIS cat a blue lynx point siamese

Newfy sweater

This sweater is a blend of Jacob wool and Newfoundland hair. The hair was collected from a black Newfoundland using the standard brushing method. Newfoundlands being a water breed have a coat that is water resistant. The natural oils that make this breed such a wonderful water rescue dog can also hold odors if not regularly groomed. Newfoundland's that you are planning to use as a fiber source should be groomed very frequently to prevent the oil from building up in the coat. The wool and dog hair fibers were processed by Zeilingers fiber mill. The fibers were washed then carded together making a roving with a very soft hand. The roving was spun with a nice 2ply sport weight yarn in mind. The sweater design is a simple one with three cables running down the front and a rolled crew neck. The design for was very petite woman. The vertical cables help create the illusion of height. Design work tends to get lost in sweaters designed with fibers that create halo's. Such fibers are mohair, angora, dog hair, some long wools and other exotic fiber depending on spinning methods used. It is very important to keep this in mind when planning a sweater made from these fibers.

Spinning to save a Breed

This blanket was made of 100% dog hair (australian shepherds). I asked volunteers from ARPH (Aussie rescue) if they could please send me the hair from dogs that were either in rescue awaiting a home or that had found forever homes. The response was amazing. I recieved hair from all across the US and even Canada. I spun the hair into 2ply yarn and knitted this blanket. The blanket was raffled at their National Breed show that year to raise money for rescue. There are 2 articles published in national magazines about this blanket. It appeared in Aussie Times, and Spin Off

spinning with dog hair

Many people get grossed out by the fact that I spin and use the hair from my dog for garments. The most frequently asked question is does it smell. The hair I use does not. I use hair from clean well kept dogs, however I am sure there are people out there that do not practice proper grooming edicate. I can not speak about their hair, or their personal odor. When spinning I prefer hair from freshly washed, undercoated dogs. The method to remove the hair is a force air dryer (no heat) This method only removed the dead undercoat and nothing else. It in NO WAY hurts the dog. My second method of collection is daily brushings. The second question asked is what if I'm allergic. I have never met a person allergic to hair (because we are covered in it) What they are allergic to is the dander from a pet. Once the fiber is removed and washed, the allergins are gone. This Vest, Sock, and hat set are made from aussie hair and won first place in shepherds lead at the Harvest Wool and Sheep show in Salem NJ