Custom Spinning

Provenance Yarns and Textiles can spin almost any animal fibre: dyed or natural wool, dog, alpaca, camel, angora, or mohair. It just has to be at least 3 cm long, clean, and unmatted. The hair can be straight or curly, brushed or clipped, light or dark-coloured.

Your Pet’s Fur – Transformed into Yarn for Knitting, Weaving, or Crocheting

Are you saving some fibre that you would like transformed into beautiful, durable, useable yarn? Have you been lovingly brushing your dog and collecting the soft, downy undercoat? Have you recently had your darling dog clipped, and saved the clipped fur? Have you been faithfully plucking your long-haired rabbit and now you’re up to your ears in heavenly soft fluff? Do you have a bag of baby camel down languishing in a closet, waiting to be turned into yarn to knit into a luxurious scarf? Were you given some qiviut on a northern adventure, and don't know what to do with it? If your fibre is at least 3 cm long, clean, and unmatted, I can spin it!

I can spin luxury fibre on its own but I sometimes recommend blending fur or hair with soft, fine wool such as Ontario-grown Rambouillet or Polwarth. There are a number of advantages to blending with wool:

• It extends the weight and yardage of yarn produced, so you can make a larger product or garment than you would if we used only your animal’s fur.

• The wool helps to hold the more slippery fur fibres in place, so the product sheds less. This is particularly relevant for dogs’ undercoat, which tends to be short.

• It adds bounce or “memory” to the fabric. This is valuable in a knitted garment such as a hat, mitts, or vest, that you want to retain its shape. Garments made purely of dog, rabbit, or goat fur/hair tend to stretch out and sag over time.

• Blending allows more control over the colour of the yarn. I can blend with almost any natural colour of wool (chosen to match or contrast with your animal’s fur), or with any custom-dyed colour. This can result in a prettily coloured garment with a gorgeous halo in the colour of your animal’s fur.

• It reduces the insulating properties of super-warm fibres. A hat made from 100% dog fur would likely be too warm to wear on any but the very coldest days!

Alternatively, we could combine your luxury fibre with something equally special, like shiny silk, custom-dyed kid mohair, or super-soft cotton.

Some dog breeds or types have fur that is more suitable for spinning than others. If your dog sheds copiously and resembles a samoyed, long-haired collie or shepherd, chow, malamute, or husky, we can spin the undercoat that you collect while brushing your pet. If your dog's coat grows long and soft, like a poodle, wheaton terrier, or Portugese water dog, we can spin the clipped coat. Rabbit fur can be clipped, brushed, or gently plucked.

When we receive your fibre, we examine it for suitability for spinning and wearing, often spinning a sample on its own and blended with one or two other fibres to determine the best way to proceed. We discuss with you (in person or via email) what you are planning to do with the spun yarn, and recommend a process that will give you what you want. The whole process will likely include carding, blending, dyeing, spinning, plying, finishing (washing and brushing), winding into balls, and labelling with content details and care instructions. We provide a written cost and time estimate and, once these are agreed upon, we require a 30% deposit before we embark on a custom project. The balance of payment must be received before the finished yarn is mailed out.

If you want us to design and knit a garment or item for you, we can quote on that too! Julia is an expert designer and knitter, and works closely with weavers in the community if necessary to get your project finished quickly.