Published: Tuesday, 1st April, 2008 12:00pm

BARKING MARIA TURNS DOG HAIR INTO CARDIE

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BIG LICKS: Maria with dogs Jenna and Kaspar

A BARKING mad dog-lover has knitted a winter jacket for herself using her beloved poochs’ old fur.

Maria Macdonald has had her Samoyed dogs Jenna and Kaspar for more than eight years and throughout that time she has collected their groomings in plastic bags in the garage.

But one day Maria came up with a hair-raising scheme to turn her pampered pets’ unwanted coat into a jacket for herself.

The 56-year-old gran told the Reporter: “The dogs are quite a hairy breed and take a lot of grooming.

“I had been saving their combings.

“But in the end I didn’t know what to do with the fur so I decided to set about finding someone who could spin it for me.

“Once the fur was spun and mixed with some sheep wool to give it the right elasticity — I knitted the garment, and it’s a lovely shade of raspberry pink because I asked for it to be dyed.

“I decided to make a jacket because the texture of the wool is really warm and heavy and I thought it would certainly be very cosy.

“The jacket definitely attracts quite a lot of comments once people know where it came from, but I do like it.

“I plan to make something else with the fur in the future because I have continued to collect the dogs’ hair.”