The tradition & historical record
2 min read · 2 sourcesChiengora, also called "dog wool", is yarn or wool spun from dog hair. The word is a portmanteau of chien (the French word for dog) and angora and was coined by an American spinner, Annette Klick. Dog hair is up to 80% warmer than wool and is not elastic. 1
History
Spinning dog hair is not a new art form. Dog hair has been found in yarns dating back from pre-historic Scandinavia, and in textiles from the Navajo and Northwest Coast Native Americans of North America. It was the main fiber spun on the Northern American continent before the Spaniards introduced sheep. Sometimes dog hair is blended with wool during the carding process to make yarn. This blend has some give to it, which is preferable when knitting. It may also be blended with sheep wool in order to create a yarn with less heat insulation. The best hairs for this application are from 'Northern' breeds with a soft undercoat, such as Newfoundlands, Chow Chows, Samoyed, Norwegian Elkhounds, and the like. While not as common as the use of wool and other animal fibers, chiengora has a long history of use by hand spinners as well as small businesses who produce it for sale. It has been called by many descriptive names over the decades. In a 1983 article, Annette Klick noted that when selling her doghair products, some people would be disgusted if told an item was made of dog hair, but would admire finished mittens that looked like they were made of angora (rabbit). Consequently, Klick and her daughter created the word Chiengora and from then on Klick noted "we got a much heartier response." While it is difficult to trace the earlier history of small businesses spinning chiengora and selling chiengora products, there continue to be many businesses advertising their chiengora online. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Chiengora”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
chiengora is wool yarn spun from dog hair, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. 2