An anniversary has come around since an offbeat guide by a writer with a longstanding connection to the island proved irresistible to the Mid-Ocean News in 1994.

“The title does it all, doesn’t it?” author and frequent Bermuda visitor Kendall Crolius said this month of Knitting with Dog Hair — now back in print, updated and something of a cult classic.

At the time, the subject was unusual enough for Ms Crolius’s story to get picked up by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and People magazine.

For the 30th anniversary edition, with her book ranking No 15 in the Folk Craft category on Amazon and heading for publication in Italian, Ms Crolius updated The Royal Gazette on its performance.

“It’s done really well,” she said from her home in Chautauqua, New York. “The original was in print for 20 years, which my publisher tells me is extraordinary.”

Thirty years on also marks a poignant occasion for the author. She and her family were in Bermuda this October for a final reunion at their cottage, ahead of the sale of a house where they spent many family holidays.

“We love Bermuda — I feel like I grew up there,” said Ms Crolius. “It’s like a home away from home.”

Her links to the island go back more than a century, to before the First World War.

Ms Crolius said: “My father’s parents were big tennis players who had good friends in Bermuda and used to spend quite a bit of time on the island.”

Her grandmother moved to Bermuda after the death of her grandfather, and lived for a while in Paget with her father and uncle. In the 1950s, Ms Crolius’s father brought her mother to the island and she fell “head over heels in love with it”.

The couple bought a cottage in Southampton, which the non-Bermudian family were legally obliged to sell this year.

Ms Crolius’s Bermuda links were such that sharing her book with the weekly Mid-Ocean seemed only natural.

True to form, its return to print was quirky enough to feature this month in The Guardian. Ms Crolius said the book’s genesis was happenstance.

“I love knitting and needlework, and I always wanted to learn how to spin. My dear husband, Stephen, gave me a spinning wheel and a weekend spinning course for my birthday.”

Ms Crolius said her “light bulb” moment came when the knitting instructor mentioned that “you don’t have to limit yourself to sheep’s wool”, adding: “You can spin anything — even dog hair.”

The couple owned a golden retriever, Abigail, who “shed like crazy” — more than sufficient to provide enough yarn to make a scarf for her husband.

She added: “It’s also good for the dogs. Every dog I have ever had has loved being brushed.”

Shaving dogs is not recommended, however. She said the point of her book was “to bring this concept to dog lovers”.

“Yes, it makes wonderful, beautiful yarn, but what’s really special is to make something from a pet you know and love.”

Although its content raised eyebrows, Ms Crolius was quick to point out that its subject matter was nothing new.

She said: “I didn’t make up the notion. This is something that’s gone on for thousands of years. I’ve learnt even more about it since the book came out 30 years ago.”

Dog-yarning traditions can be found in Scandinavia, and archaeological evidence from the American southwest has shown its use.

One of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest kept a breed known as the Salish wool dog, which they housed separately from other dogs to prevent interbreeding.

Ms Crolius said the how-to sections of her book remained much the same, but the new edition “tells the story of the movement we created 30 years ago”.

“We weren’t in the internet age when I originally wrote it. Now I’ve been able to connect with dog-hair spinners all over the world. It’s really been fun to get to know these folks.”

The cottage industry includes a group who get together at an annual convention for a community effort spinning with yarn from the Leonberger breed ― a giant with a thick double coat of fur. They sell their creations to raise funds for dog rescues.

Another enthusiast, who demonstrates spinning at her local park on weekends, also raises money for animal protection.

Most people collect dog hair for clothing ― but Ms Crolius has come to know one enthusiast who turns the yarn into “felted little statues, replicas of the dog that it came from”.

Ms Crolius said the family, for now, does not own a dog.

“Our 16-year-old passed away a year ago, and my husband and I have just retired,” she said. “We’ve decided this is our travel decade.”

She added: “We have two kittens instead ― and a lot of dog nieces and nephews.”