Gathering Chiengora
Sounds like a fancy way of acquiring exotic fiber, doesn't it? Actually, it means I'm brushing the dog. Chiengora (pronounced she-an-gora) is the fiber term for dog hair. When it's on the dog, the couch, or the carpet, it's dog hair. However, when you collect it and put it in the spinning stash, it becomes chiengora.
People actually save and spin dog hair. There is quite a cottage industry of spinning pet fiber to make memorial items from it.
To be totally honest, I've never spun chiengora. I do have a dog, however, and I have been saving her fiber every time I brush her in hopes that someday I'll have enough to make something with it. I also have some clipped Great Pyrenees fiber in the stash that I hope to work with someday.
From what I have read, combed chiengora is supposedly better to work with than clipped fiber as combed fiber is mostly undercoat while clipped fiber is everything the dog has. However, I don't think poodles shed and I have read that spinners enjoy poodle hair. Another issue with clipped fiber is that dog groomers don't shear like sheep or alpaca shearers, so there are lots of second cuts, short fiber, and impurities in the fiber. Since I have yet to spin any combed or clipped chiengora, I cannot report first hand experiences.
Our dog is Sugar Bear. She's 3/4 Laboador retriever, 1/4 Great Pyrenees, and 100% trouble. Great Pyrenees have a reputation of behaving only when they feel like it. Labs have a reputation of getting too excited and forgetting how to behave. Sugar Bear suffers from both maladies -- often at the same time. She's not a livestock guardian dog no matter what we intended, and we can't trust her in the pasture with the alpacas. She does have some protective instincts -- our place is thoroughly defended from squirrels and well protected from deer.
Sugar is a short-haired dog with hair only slightly longer than that of a Laborador retriever. By combing her for the fiber in the spring, I get the loose undercoat as it is brushed out and very little of the outer guard hair. This undercoat is very soft, but it's also so short as to be near the limit of my spinning ability.
I'm at a loss for how to describe Sugar's fiber. When I make a wool/alpaca blend, I say something like 25% wool, 75% alpaca. If I say the fiber is 25% Great Pyrenees and 75% Laborador retriever, will people understand that it is the dog that is blended rather than the fiber?
So anyhow, I sat and combed Sugar's fiber this morning. She needed brushing and enjoyed the attention. I augmented my stash with a little bit of chiengora. Perhaps by the time she finishes shedding in the spring of 2006, I'll have enough Sugar Bear fiber to create something with it.
People actually save and spin dog hair. There is quite a cottage industry of spinning pet fiber to make memorial items from it.
To be totally honest, I've never spun chiengora. I do have a dog, however, and I have been saving her fiber every time I brush her in hopes that someday I'll have enough to make something with it. I also have some clipped Great Pyrenees fiber in the stash that I hope to work with someday.
From what I have read, combed chiengora is supposedly better to work with than clipped fiber as combed fiber is mostly undercoat while clipped fiber is everything the dog has. However, I don't think poodles shed and I have read that spinners enjoy poodle hair. Another issue with clipped fiber is that dog groomers don't shear like sheep or alpaca shearers, so there are lots of second cuts, short fiber, and impurities in the fiber. Since I have yet to spin any combed or clipped chiengora, I cannot report first hand experiences.
Our dog is Sugar Bear. She's 3/4 Laboador retriever, 1/4 Great Pyrenees, and 100% trouble. Great Pyrenees have a reputation of behaving only when they feel like it. Labs have a reputation of getting too excited and forgetting how to behave. Sugar Bear suffers from both maladies -- often at the same time. She's not a livestock guardian dog no matter what we intended, and we can't trust her in the pasture with the alpacas. She does have some protective instincts -- our place is thoroughly defended from squirrels and well protected from deer.
Sugar is a short-haired dog with hair only slightly longer than that of a Laborador retriever. By combing her for the fiber in the spring, I get the loose undercoat as it is brushed out and very little of the outer guard hair. This undercoat is very soft, but it's also so short as to be near the limit of my spinning ability.
I'm at a loss for how to describe Sugar's fiber. When I make a wool/alpaca blend, I say something like 25% wool, 75% alpaca. If I say the fiber is 25% Great Pyrenees and 75% Laborador retriever, will people understand that it is the dog that is blended rather than the fiber?
So anyhow, I sat and combed Sugar's fiber this morning. She needed brushing and enjoyed the attention. I augmented my stash with a little bit of chiengora. Perhaps by the time she finishes shedding in the spring of 2006, I'll have enough Sugar Bear fiber to create something with it.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 8:26 AM
1 Comments:
Your musings are most amusing. I think you better say it's the dog that is blended and not the fiber lest you be labeled a liar. Have you been able to gather more Sugar fuzz? An Alpalca and Chiengora mix might fix Sugar's short fibers. In the book entitled Knitting with Dog Hair there is a list in the back with the breeds and the type of fiber and how easy or hard to spin. Keep up the musings.
Christine in Montreal.
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