Want a sustainable sweater?  Well you could try and buy one that’s made from materials like organic cotton, bamboo, natural wool, hemp or even recycled cashmere.  If that sounds boring to you and you happen to be a dog fanatic, why not have a sweater knit from you own dogs hair?

What could be more sustainable?  Your dogs purpose for existence is not to yeild fur yarn so you’d have the animal regardless of your style choice.  Plus you don’t need to shave fido for his fur, as most dog owners can tell you, there’s never a shortage of dog hair lying around.

How to Spin Dog Hair Yarn:

1. Does your dog hair measure up?  Your dogs hair should be at least 2″ or longer if you don’t want to blend.  If your dog isn’t blessed with such long locks, you can blend a longer fiber like wool in with it.  
2. Prep:  Start collecting fido’s hair, try brushing, not shaving ;) 
3. Card the hair.  If you don’t know what that is, check out this fiber carding tutorial.
4. Start Spinning: Take some of the carded hair and and start drawing some fibers away from the bunch, gently pulling and twisting.  Try not to break the yarn between the string and the carded hair.  
5. Hit the Drop Spindle:  If spinning yarn is old hat, go to town, if not, check out this tutorial on spinning yarn.
6. Wash & Dry:  Wash the yarn in a mild detergent or natural dog shampoo, then soak it in some white vinegar to remove the enzymes that cause that “wet dog smell.”  Finally block the yarn and let it air dry.  This will probably take several days.
7. KNIT!  If you don’t know how to do this get to reading…  How to knit

Now if you don’t have the raw skills to spin a furry fashion of your own, check out Pet Yarn Chic.  All you have to do is collect excess dog hair from your pets grooming and save it up.  Once you have enough for a garment, send it in to Pet Yarn Chic and they’ll upcycle it into a custom fashion that’ll keep you warm and be the bain of your friends with animal allergies.

Sure it’s a little weird, but it’s definitely unique and sustainable!