chiengora

Imagine you have a beloved pet but they shed enough to create a second pet. I too have had this problem. I would throw all her shedding away but then had to think about taking up landfills space with this. I left some out for wildlife in the back yarn and even tried composting some if it but then hand to think about pet fur in the water ways (i live near a creek). the recycle fiend in me kept nagging that there had to be some better way to deal with this problem.
Then it happened. One day my maincoon mix left some of her shedding near my spinning basket. A bulb when off! After quickly grabbing a spare drop spindle, I turned that bit of fluff into a small section of yarn! Needless to say it did not take me long to knit my first hat with this new to me fiber. This couldn't be the first time this has happened I thought, so after some quick googling I discovered the amazing world of chiengora (pet yarn)!
The term chiengora comes from the french word "chien", french for dog and "-gora" as in "angora" as that is what the yarn resembles with its softness and the halo affect it produces.The ancient Scandinavians having left behind some awesome samples of this product makes this method of producing yarn over 1000 years old! To make things even better there are people all over the world who do this craft!
I found this link to some of the amazing creations people have made using chiengora: https://www.google.com/search?q=chiengora+sweaters&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwja1bnXhsTUAhVK72MKHcc9AUcQsAQILg&biw=960&bih=458
I have decided this was destined to be a way to help do my part with recycling. I think everyone with a shedding pet should be involved with this. Finally a solution to all that fluff. Just think of the conversations you could start!