"Say hello to Bruno!"

A friend of mine has a huge Newfie dog named Bruno. He's such a sweetie - and a real gentle giant. She's been wanting to learn to spin so she could make yarn from his brushings, but has found so little time. She did give me a big Ziploc full of fur though!

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"Hi Bruno!"

This has already been washed and dried and probably about 1/4 of it has already been spun.

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I was very concerned about it felting when I washed it, but knew I needed to since the doggy smell (although not that strong) was still too much for me, so I wrapped it loosely in muslin fabric before washing it in the kitchen sink. I ran cool to lukewarm water in the sink and used a bit of Palmolive Cucumber Melon scent. Once the since was full, I gently set my muslin parcel in the water and submerged it. I let it sit for about 5 or 10 minutes, and gently lifted it out. I repeated that 3 times, using fresh water and soap each time. Then I used the same process to rinse, (just left out the soap) until the water didn’t seem soapy any more. I let the “parcel” drain for about 30 minutes in the sink and then wrapped it in a towel and pressed more water out. I let the fur dry over night.

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I've been handcarding one rolag at a time and then spinning it up. This is the first time using the handcards that the woman threw in with the deal when I bought my used Ashford Traditional last summer. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, although what I'm doing still doesn't quite look like the video on Joy of Handspinning that I'm learning off of.

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And here's some of the singles on my wheel. I'm thinking of doing a 3 ply and am spinning my singles so that I'll end up with a worsted weight.

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This is a tiny 2 ply sample skein that I spun up before I washed the fur. Very soft and fluffy! I heart Bruno-yarn.

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