Dog Hair Sweater

During the war, little Liesbeth van Ogtrop lived with her brother Hein-Jan and her parents in the Dutch village of Eemnes. The family had a dark grey keeshond named Sten. Whenever Sten was groomed, the brush was filled with handfuls of hair. During the bitter cold winter of 1944-1945, the Van Ogtrop family did not go hungry thanks to a supply of vegetables they had grown in their garden. But textiles, coal and many other products were scarce. Then Liesbeth’s mother got the idea to put the dog hair she had accumulated to good use. An acquaintance spun some balls of wool and she knit her daughter a sweater.