Unspinning yarn

  Over the years my obsession with rod building and fly tying has caused me to visit some interesting places. By "interesting", I don't mean lewd or perverse, (at least not as far as any of you know), I just mean places that had I not been in search of a specific product that was not directly designed for building rods or tying flies, but had a unique attribute that made it suitable for the aforementioned purposes, I probably would have never visited in the first place. For example, sewing and quiting shops.

  The impetus for visiting sewing and quilting shops was simply because the first wave of metallic thread designed for use in wrapping fishing rods was simply not up to the task. At the time Gudebrod was the pre-eminent manufacturer of rod building thread, so one would think their brand of metallic would be a quality product...it wasn't. As a matter of fact, it was downright terrible. The issue was that the the manner in which metallic foil was wrapped over the core would cause it to split and separate if the diameter of the blank was small enough that it forced the thread into a bend that was too acute for the outer layer of foil to stay intact. It worked ok for decorative wraps on large diameter blanks, but for fine tipped fly rods, it could be a real test of one's patience for sure.

  Enter the Sulky brand of metallic embroidery thread. I dont really remember who, or how we figured out that Sulky metallic embroidery thread didn't have this issue, but we did. Sulky thread was and still is a fantastic substitute for the Gudebrod (who went out of business over a decade ago). It is much more durable and far more user friendly, and as an added bonus, it came in some very unique colors that the Gudebrod didn't. Back then, my good friend, and rod make extraordinaire, Gerald McCasland, and I would get together for lunch every few weeks on a Saturday afternoon, and afterward, we'd make a trip to the local sewing/fabric store to stock up on Sulky metallic thread. I can say with 100% confidence that it NEVER, EVER phased me one bit to be the only male in a fabric store with a hundred or so females who were there buying supplies for sewing, quilting, crocheting, and other female-dominated crafts. Gerald however was from the old school, and didnt feel quite as "confident" as I did. EVERY TIME we went in there he always had to make sure that anyone who raised an eyebrow at our presence there knew he was NOT buying this thread to crochet a pillowcase or embroider a quilt, and that it was for the much more manly pursuit of building fishing rods! Gerald was a great guy, and even better freind, and a fantastic rod maker....I sure do miss him.

  My latest obsession has been yarn. Actually, this is nothing new, as I've been collecting both synthetic and natural fiber yarn for many years now, mainly for use in making my own dubbing. We have several close family friends who have been heavily involved in crocheting, knitting, and weaving, some on a small commercial scale, and they are more than happy to send me their scraps that would otherwise be pitched in the garbage. Recently though my fascination with yarn has escalated due to the discovery that the long-discontinued product known as Aunt Lydia's Rug yarn works very well in other fly tying applications than just its traditional use in Merkin style crab bodies. Sold by many fly tying materials manufacturers under the name of "sparkle yarn" until it was discontinued, the Aunt Lydia's product unfortuantely has no similiar substitute. In fact, I have yet to find anything that is even remotely close. I have acquired a large inventory of the Aunt Lydia's product and have begun experimenting with combing it out for use in place of other synthetic filaments like EP fiber, which is also nothing more than combed out polypropylene macrame cord. Aunt Lydias was a very unique product in that the filaments were 100% polyester, which gives it a unique, but very natural "sparkle" when exposed to sunlight that other yarns simply don't have. Additionally, it is MUCH stiffer than other synthetic yarns like rayon or acrylic making it much less prone to fouling in windy conditions.

Being that the online global marketplace has made it so that I no longer have to frequent sewing shops and craft stores looking for unique materials for fly tying (although I still do quite frequently), I now find myself in some equally "unique" if not more so areas of the world wide web searching for new materials. Case in point; just last night I was digging through youtube for some ideas on combing out and blending synthetic yarn filaments, and stumbled into another female dominated space that I knew absolutely nothing about...DOLL MAKING. As it turns out the custom doll makers have this down to an art! And, it makes total sense when you think about it, as they are using combed-out yarn for hair (mainly wigs) on their dolls. The irony is that just last week, Captain Freddy Lynch was telling me that back in the 80s he used to buy fake Santa Claus beards by the dozens because the synthetic hair they used for the beards was perfect for tying flies....go figure!

  The doll makers even have their own terminology for the finished product...YARN WEFTS. Some of these women are doing some incredibly creative stuff making and dying yarn wefts for use as synthetic hair on custom made dolls. And, most if not all of these techniques are in some way applicable to fly tying. If like me you are always looking for new and creative ways to make DIY fly tying materials, check out the links below for some really interesting videos on making yarn wefts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHagu-4IXQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdXay72gpS0&t=21s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwOSNDTi0p0&t=3s

Hope you all are having a great week

Andy