Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Is it me or is this kinda...gross?


I don't know why but it creeps me out and I know my feeling is completely irrational. Your thoughts?

27 comments:

Turtle said...

about 3 weeks ago my teen forwarded a link to me from amazon about a book of spinning yarn out of your dogs fur. Like you it kind of weirds me out but at the same time having had a husky dog team up till 17 years ago there was a lot of hair brushed from those dogs...and i used to wonder what i could do with it, the recycler that i am! lol, so as long as the animal is clean it weirds me out a little less. i wonder how my dog would feel though if i carried a bag knit from another dogs fur! Hmmmm.??

AmericanKnitter said...

Nope. Doesn't creep me out at all... animal fiber is animal fiber. I think she was very clever to think of it.

Anonymous said...

I think it is a great idea. I little memento of a loved one to have forever. No different than sheep's 'fur' really.

MadScientistK said...

This is so funny! Cat fur was the first fiber I spun, super low-tech style by rolling along my thigh. You could call it my gateway fiber; next thing I know I'm making spindles and buying wool! I have three domestic shorthairs and I'm making them a kitty bed out of "their" yarn. More fun than composting the pounds of fur they shed every year.

CAT said...

I just started spinning my colleagues Mancun cat firm. It's like spinning angora rabbit.

Anonymous said...

At first the still shot looked like she was spinning while sitting on the toilet, and THAT would be very gross :D

Cat handbags? Eh, not so much. I think it would be cute. Though I can't understand why she would combine it with fun fur, ugh.

Anonymous said...

It's one way to keep you from spending money...if you happen to be allergic to cats. Negative reinforcement of behavior. :)

Anonymous said...

The yarn doesn't creep me out, but the use of the yarn does. Those bags scare the willies out of me!

I have a huge amount of dog fur here I keep saving. Not sure I will ever have it spun into yarn, but it is there just in case I get a hankering. With 3 dogs, I may as well recycle. ;)

Anonymous said...

Proud owner of a persian here Chili. Cause he's red like a chili pepper. (He's my avatar on ravelry.) I have him shaved in a lion cut about twice a year and the amount of fur/fiber is amazing. And its so downy soft.

Really shouldn't be any different than how we think about fiber from a sheep or goat but it is. I wouldn't want something from Chili's fur much as I love my little fur baby.

(dinajill)

Susan said...

Okay, ya'll have convinced me. BUT- didn't you think the woman at the 2:09 mark was a little...weird. She is talking about "when the time comes to put him to sleep..." with a huge smile on her face.
I mean, not all cats are put to sleep, right?

Dana S. Whitney said...

The part about a momento after the cat was d.e.a.d. was gross. And I kept wondering if you could FELT a cat (wouldn't want to be present during the process, though). I like cats. This makes them useful for something besides catching mice-- or crickets. (I don't like them catching birds.) And I never have known a shaved cat.

Anonymous said...

Using dog hair is icky because dogs are icky and just gross. No different than using sheep, goat, rabbit, or alpaca. I have a Flame-Point Birman and it would be nice to do something with all that hair.

Susan said...

See, part of the reason I think cat hair is creepy is cause cats lick themselves. ALL THE TIME. Dog hair seems marginally more normal somehow....

Trinity said...

No offense Susan, but I think that a fair amount of goat and sheep poop gets on the fiber we gladly use from your flock and that is way grosser than cat spit! I think using cat hair is just "weird" because it hasn't been done much. Can you imagine if your fiber business eventually extended to having cat flocks and cat fur CSAs :)

Unknown said...

For me, the creepiness is definitely wanting to preserve a piece of your pet in the form of a knitted object. I have 2 cats and 3 dogs, so there is plenty of fur around here. I just lost a super-soft Ragamuffin cat last month, but I just can't imagine having a bag made out of her fur. Fiber is fiber, but I won't be making any mementos out of my pets' fur. But, everyone is unique -- that's what makes the world go round!!!

(my word verification is kbreedi -- breed in the middle seems rather ironic, given the story was about the Persian breed!)

Susan said...

Hey, I fully admit that my aversion is completely and totally illogical! I think Trinity hit the nail on the head- it just seems weird because it isn't done all that much.

Anonymous said...

I don't have an issue with it -- the cats are bathed first, so the fiber should be fairly clean. I would think it's sort of like angora.

Susan in Maryland said...

Because I am violently allergic to cats, I'm just (achoo..excuse me) at a loss for words. (sniff, tear, itch)

Anonymous said...

I once spun some yarn from my dog's hair (after a good brushing or 10) and he HATED it. He barked, paced around. It creeped HIM out.
There's the social thing of keeping some of your cat alive...but I get that. My old cat Huckleberry, a companion through many life changes, had a persian father, and so would occsionally make felt. I once put it in the art show of my weaving class, and I still have it. Creepy, but I cherish having a part of him still. Apart from the coolness of having a cat on the other side watching out for me.

Donna said...

I caught that comment too Susan about "when it comes time to put him to sleep". We didn't have that option with our cat - he passed peacefully in the middle of the night.

I am allergic to cats (the reason we didn't get another one after ours died) so the thought of spinning that and knitting then using just makes me itchy!

A pretty cool idea though.....

Anonymous said...

A little odd at first but I'm beginnning to think that it is a neat idea. I probably wouldn't want to have one of my pets though - the pictures and memories (such as scratched up furniture) are enough for me. My cat would never go through this grooming business anyway (hates hates water).

Grandmatutu said...

Well . . . this doesn't creep me out but it is on the "far" side a bit. My only question is . . . is the cat from whence the fur came smellier than the fur????? Poor Smelly Cat. Cracks me up!

Unknown said...

I spin my dog's hair. I usually blend it with wool. Sometimes I spin straight from the dog's hair. I just spun and knitted a scarf for my friend out of her dog's hair. I'd love to spin my cats' hair, but they are too short :)

Unknown said...

I do agree that the woman talking about when her cat is put to sleep was a little creepy. But, those things are keepsakes for some people.

Leah said...

I think it's hilarious. Why not?

Erin said...

The whole bathing-grooming-shaving experience doesn't look all that pleasant to me...my cat Muse's fur is certainly long enough to spin and is incredibly soft, but she has some violent opinions about personal grooming being PERSONAL, and I respect that. I've seen dog fur spun before and my only thought was "Dogs don't smell good, dog fur mittens probably don't either."

Hillary said...

There was an English teacher at my high school who used to make sweaters out of her cats' fur. And wear them to school. Imagine how kind her students were to her. Everyone thought she was a little...strange.