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Not everything worth keeping has to be useful. ~ Cynthia Lord
A reader writes: Please tell me I'm not crazy. I have a jar full of whiskers my cats 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 from my cats.
My response: If you are crazy, my dear, so am I. I can assure you 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 was shocked and totally unprepared for his sudden, unexpected death, and at the time, I didn’t know enough to save anything that was a part of him. Except for keeping his collar, I later realized that I had nothing to remember him by. That all changed when my husband and I were finally ready to give our hearts to another dog. From the moment our darling Tibetan terrier Beringer came into our lives, and over the fourteen wonderful years we had him, I saved as keepsakes every one of his baby teeth, every rabies and dog license tag, every collar he’d had since he was a puppy.
One day during those years of loving Beringer, we visited a dear friend in Nebraska who happened to be raising llamas. Among other things, she showed me how she collected and cleaned the wool from her llamas, as she prepared it to be spun into yarn. I decided then and there that each night when I brushed and groomed Beringer, I would save whatever hair I collected from him, until one day I would have enough to send to my friend.
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: Knitting with Dog Hair.
Here are just a few of the articles I found:
Cat Hair Padded Jacket
Dog, Cat, Pet Hair Yarn Spinning Options - Chiengora Fibers
Get Crafty With Yarn Made From Your Dog’s Fur
Hair of the Dog: Wear Your Best Friend
Hand spun yarn made from your pets hair - NINE LIVESTWINE
How to Make Dog Yarn
Tips on Spinning Cat Hair
Turn Your Pet's Fur Into a Forever Keepsake: Tips forPrepping and Spinning Fur Into Yarn
Using Your Dog’s Hair
Woofspun Dog Hair Yarn
The simple truth is that, when it comes to loving our animal companions ~ and certainly when we are mourning the loss of them ~ we are free to express ourselves in any way that brings us comfort, as long as our doing so causes no harm to ourselves or to anyone else, including our cherished pets ~ and there is nothing crazy about that.
Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below. If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing Newsletter. Sign up here.
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A reader writes: Please tell me I'm not crazy. I have a jar full of whiskers my cats 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 from my cats.
My response: If you are crazy, my dear, so am I. I can assure you 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 was shocked and totally unprepared for his sudden, unexpected death, and at the time, I didn’t know enough to save anything that was a part of him. Except for keeping his collar, I later realized that I had nothing to remember him by. That all changed when my husband and I were finally ready to give our hearts to another dog. From the moment our darling Tibetan terrier Beringer came into our lives, and over the fourteen wonderful years we had him, I saved as keepsakes every one of his baby teeth, every rabies and dog license tag, every collar he’d had since he was a puppy.
One day during those years of loving Beringer, we visited a dear friend in Nebraska who happened to be raising llamas. Among other things, she showed me how she collected and cleaned the wool from her llamas, as she prepared it to be spun into yarn. I decided then and there that each night when I brushed and groomed Beringer, I would save whatever hair I collected from him, until one day I would have enough to send to my friend.
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: Knitting with Dog Hair.
Here are just a few of the articles I found:
Cat Hair Padded Jacket
Dog, Cat, Pet Hair Yarn Spinning Options - Chiengora Fibers
Get Crafty With Yarn Made From Your Dog’s Fur
Hair of the Dog: Wear Your Best Friend
Hand spun yarn made from your pets hair - NINE LIVESTWINE
How to Make Dog Yarn
Tips on Spinning Cat Hair
Turn Your Pet's Fur Into a Forever Keepsake: Tips forPrepping and Spinning Fur Into Yarn
Using Your Dog’s Hair
Woofspun Dog Hair Yarn
The simple truth is that, when it comes to loving our animal companions ~ and certainly when we are mourning the loss of them ~ we are free to express ourselves in any way that brings us comfort, as long as our doing so causes no harm to ourselves or to anyone else, including our cherished pets ~ and there is nothing crazy about that.
Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below. If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing Newsletter. Sign up here.
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