Oklahoma Woman Spins Goat, Rabbit - And Wolf - Hair Into Yarn

Rick Wells, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- You probably can't imagine all the things that can be spun into yard. I know I couldn't. Everything from bamboo to buffalo hair can be used to make hats and sweaters.

In fact, one Oklahoma woman is spinning wolf hair into yarn.

"I usually don't do custom orders but she was so attached to this wolf," said Jane Deason.

That's right - wolf hair. A friend had a Siberian wolf. The wolf died, but she had saved the hair it's being spun into yarn.

"People spin dog hair, they spin cat hair," Deason said.

West Tulsan Jane Deason is a yarn spinner. More than that, she raises her own. She has angora goats and sheep – that's where mohair comes from – ready for shearing. Up on the porch there's an angora rabbit. They aren't shorn but plucked.

"Why buy when you can grow your own," said Jane Deason, yarn spinner.

That got her started raising sheep and goats.

One is called Bad Boy. He tries to get a closer look at almost everything.

Goats get clipped twice a year - soon and again in the fall. Jane usually cleans it, washes it, then sends it off for more processing.

Up at the house she has a room full

"You don't want to talk and use this," she said of a gruesome thing she uses to clean the wool.

She does her own dying too. She buys other stuff to spin like yak, bamboo – and someone gave her some buffalo hair. She said pretty much anything with fibers can be spun.

She wanted me to try spinning some wool.

"You can do it, I taught a blind lady to spin," she said.

And there I was, spinning wool into yarn. Push the peddle get the wheel turning, feed the wool in.

The bobbin fills up; you're spinning yarn - I told her I was better spinning another kind of yarn - and this one's about done.

There's an event coming this summer called "Fiber Christmas in July," where you can find everything about spinning, weaving and knitting.

Find out more about Fiber Christmas In July.