Originally posted Oct 13, 2011
9/18/18 – A Floppycatter wrote me the other day asking if I knew of any pet hair yarn spinning services. It reminded me of this post, and I thought it would be good to rerun it.
Cat Hair Yarn
Cat hair yarn is what you think it is – yarn that is created from cat hair – and usually woven with something else like sheep wool. Some readers actually spin their own cat hair yarn. But there are also people online that you can send your yarn to to have it spun.
April 2, 2016 Update – I do not believe Victoria is spinning yarn anymore. I could not get a hold of her when a reader inquired. So I found these other resources online, if you are looking to get your cat’s hair spun into yarn. If you know of others, please let me know and I can add them here. If you find these resources below are no longer valid, please also let me know.
Custom Cat Hair Yarn Spun for You on Etsy and Online
- PetHair2KnitWear– read our interview here: Interview with Irene Lerman of PetHair2KnitWear
- EntwinedSpirits
- Spinnit
- …and many, many more.
Here’s the old article…
For 12 years, my Aunt Julie saved an article that she saw in a magazine about a lady in Texas that spins pet hair yarn. After collecting her Shih Tzu dog hair for 12 years, Aunt Julie was finally ready to get in touch with the lady featured in the article to see if she was still doing it.
…and she is!
Victoria of VIP Fibers has been spinning pet hair for a number of years. I have asked Victoria to do an interview for the site (and she agreed to it! yay!), but in the mean time I wanted to tell you about cat hair yarn because I got so excited about it!
If you are interested in having your pet hair spun into yarn, then you want to be sure to follow the guidelines on Victoria’s site. For example, there are specific instructions about:
I love this idea because it doesn’t put any animals in danger of losing their life, you can cherish your pets forever this way!
You can also just phone them (1-866-PET-YARN) and get an idea of what you need to do. I have no hair collected at the moment, so I will be working on that!
What would you do with your handspun cat hair yarn?
It makes me crazy that I didn’t keep all of the hair I pulled off Rags!
My Lucy has a toy mouse knitted from yarn spun from her own fur. She carries it around like it is her baby doll. 🙂
I also have a wee amulet bag knitted from a wool/Lucy-fur blend.
When I brush Charlie and Trigg, they love to bite the fur that I pull off of them! So I bet they’d love a mouse made of their own fur!
I don’t know why, but for some reason, this creeps me out a little!
I think it’s funny that it creeps you out, only because I can relate – as I thought the same thing when my aunt first told me but then I realized it’s no different than a wool sweater, for example.
[…] you saw my post on cat hair yarn, I mentioned that I was going to have the chance to interview Victoria Pettigrew. Thank you to […]
[…] And you might remember a post I did about cat hair yarn. […]
YAY for re-posts!! SO VERY HAPPY you re-posted this topic, Jenny, as I had never seen this one before (since I only started Floppycatting in 2013!)! SUCH a fascinating topic! LURVE those creative and dexterous folks who can create yarn from our awesome kitteh’s fluffles!!! BRILLIANT!! And then to take that yarn and make clothing, accessories and even toys from it just Blows My Mind!!! I hope someone knows of a current Pet Hair Yarn service that is reliable and awesome so you can update the info in this post since Victoria may not be doing it anymore! 😉 <3
Once again, I have learned something new and awesome from Your Fabulous Blog!! 🙂 <3
Big hugs & lots of love!!
Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle 🙂 <3