In May I received a mysterious fiber package. There was a tickle in the back of my brain, a shadow of a memory from the previous summer, when I talked with a woman who said her dog’s fur looked just like the Shetland sheep roving I was using for a spinning demonstration. She said she would send me some dog fur, and I gave her my address. I reached out to confirm, and yes! My mysterious package did contain the results of numerous brushings of her Samoyed dog, Sugar.

Samoyed dogs have a thick double coat that is usually white and naturally dirt repellant with very little smell. The fiber was very clean, and did not have much VM (vegetable matter), so I decided to comb and spin it straight from the bag, without washing or scouring. The staple length of the undercoat wool is about 2-3 inches, but the guard hairs can be much longer, I measured one guard hair at 9 inches long. I did not attempt to de-hair the wool.

The Samoyed wool was very easy to spin, and I was able to get a relatively consistent single. Combing produces more waste than carding, but the results are worth it. The waste fiber goes outside for the birds and squirrels as nesting material.

I chose to chain ply my singles to make a three ply yarn. The Samoyed wool also performed well in plying and I didn’t have any breakage.

I’m going to give the three ply yarn a gentle wash and hang it up to dry!