The Crazy Dog Lady

Monday, August 18, 2008

Remember the post about blowing out the coat? That was months ago and it hasn't gotten any better. There's dog hair everywhere. I sweep and vacuum nearly every day. The next day it's back. My husband wants me to shave the dog. I hate to do it now- it's mid August. In a few short months it will cool off and what if it doesn't grow back quickly enough? Nope, not a good idea.

Yesterday we went to PetSmart and I bought a shedding comb just like the one in the picture. I was concerned that Ninja wouldn't like it. Boy was I ever wrong. Apparently this thing is like a doggy massage! He either plopped down in front of me and enjoyed the combing, or he jumped into my lap and licked my face in appreciation. Either way he comes running any time he sees the shedding comb in my hand.

It took about an hour, but I filled an entire plastic grocery bag full of long, soft, Aussie dog hair. And an amazing thing happened! When you pet my beloved dog there aren't clouds of hair flying off of him. He's curly, shiny, and just beautiful. For a tool under $7, it is an amazing result. I also didn't find clumps of hair in every corner of my house this morning. My husband doesn't mind petting him again. Wow- all of this for $7? Nothing to complain about there!

So, why did I title this the Crazy Dog Lady? Because that huge bag of soft dog hair has got my little crafty mind going. I think I said in another post that if I could find a way to make money from dog hair I'd be a wealthy woman. Well, I'm not looking to make money. . .but did you know you can spin dog hair into yarn and make beautiful, fuzzy and warm kitted things from it? It's called chiengora, similar to angora rabbit yarn.

I've done some research on it today and it doesn't look too hard. Funny, I found a lot of oppostition to having something knitted from dog hair. Sure, if you have a smelly, dirty dog, maybe it would seem gross. But if you have a beloved, pampered, clean dog (who gets bathed in lavendar or balsam shampoo every week) maybe it sounds a lot nicer. It sounds kind of cool to me, especially since Ninja has such beautiful coloring.

And if you ever read my other blog called mini mishief, you'll know I can almost never resist learning a new skill. So now I'm going to learn to spin chiengora by hand. Call me crazy. But wouldn't it be cool to have a scarf or a lap blanket years from now (please, God, many, many years from now) when my beautiful fur baby has left us to snuggle up with on a cold night? I think dog people get this. If not, well, enjoy Ninja's antics in my other posts and ignore this one. This one's for me. :)