I made a blog post about chiengora a little over a year ago now, and since then, I have had more time to expand my knowledge and experience of it, not to mention my collection. Here are 2 bags of doggie fur: the first has been collected by my friend’s husky, Samantha, and the second is a doggie medley of Louise (my dog), Ester (my cat) and Emmet (my sister’s dog).

Here is a close up of the Husky fibers. The staple length is pretty short, which makes it pretty difficult to spin on a drop spindle. I ended up carding it with some Norwegian shetland and it was perfect (see pic below).

 This here is the combo fiber.  Emmet is a German Shepard- Lab mix, mostly medium length black fur with a grey undercoat. Louise is also black but has really short fur … I cant wait to get spinning on this.

This is a single I spun on my drop spindle, husky and wool. I am going to ply it and probably weave with it.

I have really been enjoying using my drop spindle recently. It is such an incredibly simple tool that has been providing humanity with great yarns for centuries. Whenever I start thinking about purchasing a spinning wheel, I pick up my drop spindle and realize I have everything I need, as long as my production stays personal.

Here is some of the Norwegian I spun in singles and wound in skeins, ready to be plied and used.

Once you have your yarn… well, then the options are endless. Check out these sweet colors: hand spun naturally dyed and acid dyed yarns.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts about chiengora as it is the season to harvest fibers (or just vacuum…)

Also, here are the upcoming fiber related classes at TAC you can look forward to:

Felting 101- Manhattan Location- Wed  11:00-2:00,  May 30 – June 20

Spinning 101- Brooklyn Location- Sat  3:00-6:00,  June 2 – June 23

Dye + Knit (Dye and Knitting Combo)- Brooklyn Location- Sat  3:00-6:00PM,  June 2 – June 23

Friday After-Workshops! This summer, at our Manhattan Location, you can join us for $50 workshops every Friday, 6-9PM from July 13 – Aug 10. BYOB!

July 20 – Spinning your First Skein w/ Annie Egleson

July 27 – Felted Fabric w/ Annie Egleson

Aug 10 – Space-Dyed yarn w/ Liz Smith