Oh my god, dog hair? Are you serious?!

Yes!

Plain and simple, Chiengora is handspun dog hair. In this case, the hair of a gorgeous Samoyed named Koda who belongs to my mother-in-law, Linda. Koda is one well groomed dog, and I get to reap all the benefits of his super soft undercoat after he has been bathed and brushed out.

I collected Koda’s fluff for several months before undertaking this project; and I dyed it using acid dyes in a rainbow of colors. I spun it right from the dried fluff, so the resulting yarn is a bubbly thick and thin style. Total yardage for this skein comes to 160 yards, WPI: Approximately 10. I have not seen it personally, but have read that once Chiengora is worked into a project it will halo out, similar to angora in appearance.

Yarn is assuredly clean and does not smell of dog as Koda was clean when brushed and I have gently washed the yarn after spinning it. I work with a lot of fiber, so I may be overly accustomed to wooly/fibery scents. However, I’ve put others to the sniff test and have had no negative feedback. Still, If you have any reservations about handspun canine yarn, this probably isn’t your cup of tea. But if you are an adventurous sort and want to step out of your comfort zone (as I totally did when spinning this!) then hopefully this yarn makes you happy!