For Maylissa And Shell

[MartyT]

For Shell and Maylissa (and any other animal lovers who may be interested),

On March 15, in our Behaviors in Bereavement forum, Maylissa wrote,

I've also been saving any fur I groom out, plus whatever she pulls out, over the years....I learned this lesson after her brother died as I have so little of his fur. There's even a woman here somewhere who will knit something for you from your baby's fur, if you have enough...something to consider.

In response to Maylissa, on March 16 Shell wrote,

I learned that lesson too...about saving fur. I also have a jar full of whiskers they have shed, of all my babies over the years. I swear, if I could only take one thing out of my house and had to give everything else away, it would be the fur and whiskers. I've never heard of anyone knitting things out of the fur.

I just wanted you to know that you are not alone in the practice of saving hair and whiskers from your beloved kitties. When I lost my precious little cockapoo Muffin several years ago, I didn’t know enough to save anything that had been a part of him. I realized after we had buried his body that, except for his red collar, we had nothing to remember him by. That all changed when my husband and I were finally ready to give our hearts to another dog. Over the last ten years, ever since our darling Tibetan terrier Beringer came into our lives, I’ve saved every one of his baby teeth, every rabies and dog license tag, every collar he’s had since he was a puppy. I keep all these treasures in a special wooden Beringer Box that sits on a bookshelf in my office, because I know that one day, when our beloved Beringer is no longer with us physically, these "connecting objects" will bring me comfort.

Last year we visited a dear friend in Nebraska who raises llamas. Among other things, she showed me how she collects and cleans the wool from these special animals, as she prepares it to be sent away to a person who will spin it into yarn for her. I decided then and there that each night when I brush and groom Beringer, I would save whatever hair I collect from him, until one day I have enough to send to someone who will spin it into yarn for me.

I later discovered that there are many sites on the Internet dealing with making handspun yarn from your pet’s hair, and someone has even written a book on the subject! Most of the sites I found refer to spinning dog hair, but I'm sure the methods would apply to cat hair, too. Here are just a few of the sites I found:

Woofspun Dog Hair Yarn

Knitting with Dog Hair

Tips on Spinning Cat Hair

Cat Hair Padded Jacket

Monkey Filter Pet Yarn

Pet Hair Yarn Crafts

Elliphantom Knits: Shetland Yarn

Dog Hair Yarn Custom Spinning

Using Your Dog’s Hair

Handspinning Dog Hair

[shell]

Marty,

I'm so glad to see so many animal lovers on this site. It's a relief to connect with people who understand how they are like your children and when you lose one, it's a major grief like anyone else you lose. Thanks for the list of sites, I can't wait to check them out. When I wash their blankets I, of course, get a ton of hair on the lint screen. Do you think that would be able to be used too for getting the yarn?

Thanks again,

Shell

[Maylissa]

Marty and Shell,

Thanks, Marty, for the leads. After checking a few, and other ones, out, I'm not sure this will work with Nissa's fur/hair, as some people say it needs to be at least 2" long, others say 1", and her fur is pretty short. Too bad, as I saw a pair of booties knit from cat hair that would be pretty sweet. Shell, I think one of them mentioned that the hair was not to be washed beforehand, so I doubt if it's gone through the wash it will be suitable ( but I may be wrong! ).

When I started saving Nissa's fur, I was really hoping it would SMELL like her, but unfortunately it must actually be her skin that smells so wonderful, so I'll only get the feel of it somewhat, and even that's not quite the same once it's come off the body. However, I'll still have some to add to the locket I got when Sabin passed, in which I put some of his regular black fur, plus a tiny bit of the white fur that was on the tip of his tail ( it really killed me to have to clip it from his body, but I did it nonetheless, and hoped he'd understand! ). Funny thing is though.....the communication I just had with Nissa had her not only telling me over and over, " I...NEVER... LEAVE...YOU! ", but at the very end, when I thought we were done our session, she jumped in with this remarkably loving comment, which apparently she'd been saving for the last:

" I'll send you the smell of my fur....."!!!!!!! ( we'd been talking about when she was 'gone' ) I simply lost my breath over that one! So I'm hoping that, when the time comes, I'll be able to stroke her fur over my cheek, and maybe that's also when she'll send me her smell, the smell I've been totally addicted to for all of her 19 years....

Edited March 23, 2006 by Maylissa

[shell]

I've decided to keep the hair from the dryer lint trap and someday make a pillow and stuff it with the hair. It would be so comforting for me to put my head down on a pillow that had all my babies hair in it.

Shell