Ever wondered what to do with all that hair your pet sheds?

You could give it to Boronia wool spinner Marion Wheatland.

She has been a wool spinner since the early 1990s and even took her craft to Antarctica.

She teaches wool spinning through her business, Fancy Spinning a Yarn.

When one of her clients asked for her poodle’s fur to be turned into a vest, Ms Wheatland knew she was on to something.

While she didn’t have enough fibres to make a vest, she made a hat which the woman now wears to work when the weather gets cold.

Ms Wheatland gets all types of requests from pet owners — mainly people who want a memory of their dead pets or those that want to have a keepsake while they are away from them.

She makes clothing including scarfs and beanies, and other items such as pins for jackets.

Ms Wheatland has spun fur from cats, and dogs including huskies, samoyeds and Pyrenees mountain dogs.

She said she also sources camel hair from Scoresby’s Chesterfield Farm.

It has to be about 50mm to be comfortably spinnable, Ms Wheatland said.

Shorter fur can be blended with wool but results vary.

She said the time it took to spin animal fur into yarn depended on its thickness and its intended use.

On average, it takes about two hours to spin a bobbin-full of yarn and about five hours to make a skein, which is two bobbins of yarn, she said.

Ms Wheatland said she had inquiries from overseas but Australian Customs regulations prevented the importation of animal fur.

In 2011, Ms Wheatland travelled to Antarctica and spun yarn on the ice outside Mawson’s Hut.

Source: Wool spinner Marion Wheatland runs novel pet hair businessHerald Sun