Making Dog Hair Into Yarn

This week we made the first ever dog-hair yarn in our mill.  It was fun to see how dog hair would run.

The yarn was 50% Standard Poodle hair and 50% Lincoln Longwool.  The poodle hair was well cared for, brushed and kept clean while growing.  Then it was shaved carefully, keeping second cuts out, and giving a staple length of about 3-3 1/2 inches.  The hair definitely needed the support of the Longwool, which was about 4 1/2 inches staple length.

The yarn turned out beautiful and surprisingly soft and fuzzy.  For those of you who have wondered…it is indeed possible to make dog hair into yarn.  We enjoyed processing this unique order.

Willow Creek Fiber Mill

Hi! We are Daniel and Kat and we own and operate Willow Creek Fiber Mill. We are located in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado, surrounded by high peaks, Ponderosa pine forests, and plenty of wildlife. We both grew up in Estes Park and love the outdoors and beautiful views up here at 7,500 feet altitude. We have 5 children and our mill is a family business. We have a small backyard farm which over the years has included a flock of wool sheep, dairy goats, a dairy cow, chickens, and a large vegetable garden. We love animals and love raising our own fresh food for our family. We first became interested in fiber arts fifteen years ago when Kat learned to knit. The interest grew from there and Daniel learned to braid wool rugs from roving. Then we added learning to weave and spin, and over time we started our flock of wool sheep and learned how to process their fiber by hand from sheep to yarn. The more we learned the more we wanted to learn. We spent time learning about and working with many different types and textures of fiber. We enjoy working with fiber so much that one day we said, "We should do this for a living!" And thus began the dream of Willow Creek Fiber Mill. Daniel has had the opportunity to work with several different people at different mills around the country to learn the milling process and the large equipment. The experiences were priceless. We have also had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the top wool sheep breeders and alpaca breeders in Colorado to enhance our knowledge of the different types of fiber. We are committed to providing you with quality service and finished products to make all your beautiful fiber into whatever you dream it can be.