Dog Owner Takes Fur from Her Fluffy Samoyeds and Knits it into Scarves: 'It's Quite Like Angora' https://t.co/eL8iCbhRXb
— People (@people) January 31, 2022
There’s a white-haired lady in Scotland turning dogs into coats! Fortunately she’s not coming for Cruella DeVil’s crown, though. Jane Crewe is spinning her Samoyed’s undercoat into yarn and knitting mittens, shrugs and jumpers (sweaters) from them. Not only that, she’s getting others to send their dogs’ fur to her so she can do the same for them. Because of the way Jane preps the fur, it does not smell like wet dog. Apparently her product is as soft as angora and truthfully, they look lovely… but I have so many questions.
A knitter is crafting clothes from hair shed by her beloved pet dogs.
Jane Crewe, 57, is devoted to her Samoyed dogs — a Siberian breed known for its thick white fur.
The innovative crafter collects the hair her canines Artemis and Phaidra, both 7, shed and uses a spinning wheel to turn the snow-colored fluff into yarn. Crewe then knits her handmade dog fur yarn into soft hats and scarves.
Crewe, who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, transforms dog fur into yarn by washing the discarded hair, drying it for two to three days, and then spinning it into yarn.
To make sure she has enough material, Crewe sometimes uses Facebook to connect with other Samoyed owners to get more fluff — spinning some of the fur into yarn for the owner. As word of Crewe’s unique skill begins to spread, more Samoyed owners are sending the artisan fur to make into yarn. So far, Crewe has sent custom yarn to 100 Samoyed owners.
“I like the spinning, but knitting takes a lot longer. I’m usually quite happy to pass it back to the owner,” Crewe told SWNS of the yarn she’s made for others.
According to Crewe, the undercoat fluff she collects from Samoyeds is known as “the halo” and is made up of luminous white fur tinged with silver.
“It’s a little bit of magic,” Crewe, who works in the gift shop at Edinburgh Zoo, said of the material, adding, “It is quite like angora.”
I posted a clip of Jane and Phaidra on This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby below. It’s interesting to hear her explain the whole process. And you can see how soft the yarn is, I don’t need convincing of that. I can lend credence to what Jane says about the halo, too. Samoyeds fur is pretty soft to begin with, but undercoats are particularly soft. Korean Jindos, my dogs main breed, have coarser hair, but they get undercoats. That fur is incredibly soft. And as Jane says in the video below, it does just come out. If you pet my male pup fast enough, it looks like an Edward Scissorhands montage.
As I said, I have questions, though. Mainly about allergies. Obviously if you have an allergy to dog fur, don’t wear it, but what about those around you? Does the washing and drying affect whether people are allergic to the fur? Because my understanding is that a dog allergy is much more sensitive than something like a wool allergy, although not quite cat-allergy level. I loved Jane’s project of soliciting dog hair from other owners for spinning-practice. One of the owners had kept her dog’s fur after it had passed 11 years ago. Jane will send the yarn back to her and she’ll forever have that keepsake. I can’t decide if I find that creepy of not. I’m still aching from the loss of my dog who died five years ago and when I read this I thought – oh! I wish I had some yarn of his fur. But would I actually wear mittens made of it? It’s a mental leap once they’re dead. Maybe a tiny basket for my wedding ring or something. Or maybe I’ll just stick with the photo I keep on my desk. As for Jane. It’s a great use of resources and she’s quite skilled. She’s obviously brought joy to many so purl on, Jane!
Photo credit: Twitter and Instagram
I tried spinning dog hair once (it was from someone’s Labradoodle). You just can’t get rid of the dog smell, and it was too short and kept drifting apart. I’ve heard Samoyed hair is particularly lovely though.
Yes, people have been knitting with dog hair for years (centuries?), but the smell… And if you wash it or get caught in the rain, you smell like wet dog.
True. But if you get sheep’s wool wet, it also has a distinctive “wet wool” smell. AKA – wet sheep.
I read one of the “Knit Lit” books (I forget which one this was in), but there’s a story about a lady spinning her dog’s fur into a sweater, wearing it, and then it rained…
I’ve been told since then that you have to wash/specially treat the dog fur to have that not happen. But since I don’t have access to large furry dogs, I haven’t tested that.
That fur looks super pretty and fluffy! Yeah allergies wise I have no idea how that would work. It’s one thing avoiding someone who had a dog, it’s another avoiding someone who you don’t know is wearing dog fur.
Pet allergies are typically from proteins in the dog’s skin cells and saliva. Presumably if the fur she uses is well washed, there won’t be dander in it and it won’t cause allergic reactions.
It’s a known craft in Russia for socks and mittens – the fur is know to be extra warm, cozy and fluffy. Beautiful doggies!
This is pretty common in Estonia too, especially when mixed with lambwool. I have had pair of mittens what were very warm and this winter i bought socks for my mum and they are pretty and warm. Also no smell when wet.
Here in Norway there is a a small company that sells yarn made of Samojed (and New Foundlands) and they mix it half and half with lambswool since the fibers are short and I belive not much elastic. I have been in the store and the yarn is soo soft! And it doesn’t smell like dog, at least when it’s dry.
Ooh! Could you share their website with us?
Sorry for the late reply! Here is the direct link to the yarn: https://selbuspinneri.no/gimre-samojed
This is SO irresponsible to ‘report’ on! There is well known, well documented and widespread animal abuses that go on of all types in the name of “fashion”, and particularly heinous crimes committed against dogs in countries such as China. While I’m sure this lady is a nice old knitter, helping this find a wider audience is just asking for mills and farms to pop up to get on the bandwagon. Disgusting.
Potmate, it is not irresponsible at all. The people brush the dogs fur and collect it. they are not skinning dogs and killing them. chill. even if a mill sprouted up, so, what, the dogs get brushed? big deal, as they would be getting brushed anyway.
@bros – I live in NYC, near Central Park. In the spring, when dogs blow their coats, a lot of owners will brush out their dogs in the Park, rather than in their apartments. They leave the fur behind and the birds use it as nesting material.
Growing up my friend had a collie and his mom spun his fur into wool and made him mitts. I remember he was so proud of those mitts lol. I also remember they did stink when they got wet. Champ was the best dog.
I knit and have a Great Pyrenees-Newfoundland mix. I’ve often thought about doing this with the hair she sheds, which is a beautiful silver. Hers is long and there’s SO MUCH of it. But I would have to learn to spin and I’m not sure how I would feel about wearing her around!
I’m sure she’d be happy to help you keep warm.
I have a Great Pyrenees Lab mix and her fur is white and has the silver/crystal sparkles. It’s so beautiful and soft. She sheds about a sweater a day!
hahahahha omg I am getting hard flashbacks. I grew up in alaska and my boyfriend’s family had three samoyeds and his mother absolutely collected their hair and was knitting sweaters and scarfs out of them. I thought it was SO WEIRD but I am not a dog person. and she was clearly a DOG person. holy Sh^t. cant believe this is making mainstream news now, like 25 years later. LOL.
I’ve handspun shed or clipped dog hair and carded it with wool so it holds together better in the yarn. It does smell like dog when wet. However, wet wool smells like sheep and wet silk smells, well, like wet cocoons.
My corgi died suddenly in November and since I recently learned how to knit, I quickly began researching how to spin dog fur (Chiengora). It only works with dogs that have undercoats (which dogs shed naturally anyways) and works better with longer fibers. I didn’t bulk save my dog’s fur but for some reason I did save a small bag from one grooming. I plan to blend it with baby alpaca to spin and then knit into a sweater. Since I’m spinning by hand it will be a long arduous process but I think it will ultimately help me heal from his passing.
You should try needle felting. My older corgi passed but we knew it was coming about a year out. I saved a bag of his underfur and my daughter needled felted a little corgi figure incorporating his floof as a memento.
That sounds absolutely precious. What a wonderful memento.
This is not a new thing. Look up Salish Woolly Dogs. The Suquamish Tribe (and others from around the Salish Sea) kept Woolly Dogs specifically for harvesting their fur and weaving with it. The Woolly Dogs are extinct now – thanks to white supremacy and its systematic destruction of indigenous culture.
It is incredibly irresponsible of news outlets to report on these types of stories as if it’s just whacky new idea and not a craft that has literally been practiced by indigenous people for thousands of years.
If you watch the video, they acknowledge in the first 30 seconds that it’s an ancient art and people have been practicing it for thousands of years. No one is pretending it’s new or that white people invented it or whatever you’re trying to be worried about.
I wonder if she’s affiliated with the Edinburgh Samoyed Rescue charity. I follow their Twitter account which posts pictures of Samoyeds happily exploring Edinburgh every day.
Beautiful dogs. 😀
Yes, they are gorgeous!!
Though I don’t know if I would be willing to wear something with dog hair, but I find this technique to be very interesting!!
Lol, as if this hasn’t been done since…well prehistoric! I wonder what people would think if they saw the leather they’re wearing being cut from the animal.
I tell my dog I could knit a sweater out of the hair she sheds on brushing, but she knows I’m lying because I don’t know how to knit. She’s a mixed breed of some sort (looks like a 3/4 size golden retriever, but she has the curly fur behind her ears that cocker spaniels have) and she’s a Very Good Girl. I don’t actually want to wear a dog-fur sweater, though.
Lol @ she knows you are lying. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I wonder if I would be able to knit with it, I’m not super allergic to dogs but I’ve never lived with a fluffy dog that sheds a lot. I would totally be up to trying it.
My childhood neighbor used to do that. She had a huge, fluffy, black Newfoundland dog. It was always barking up a storm lol.