Wool Yarn For Patterns

[ronP]

.


Hi there. A ?: Does anyone use knitting wool yarn for fly patterns?

There is a little yarn shop near my house where the ladies form a circle and knit together all weekend (perhaps whilst their husbands play golf and fly fish). I went in there last spring to see if I could find some useful tying materials and discovered a girl I went to Penn State with knits there. We talked, she showed me around, and I found some gray- and cream-colored wool yarn that felt "fishy" and when I brought it home I combined these materials with deer hair and pheasant tail feather and came up with some wet flies I can now call "patent fish catcher patterns" that have lured brown trout, smallmouth bass, and redbreast sunfish.

Anyone else out there use wool yarn? Curious . . .


.

 

[shipnfish2006]

Theres a nymph that I tied for using in the Smokies a few years back that I used yellow wool yarn with. I've tried yarn on streamers, but the particular yarn that I tried was just a little too thin for my liking. I use wool for some of my stockies nymphs and streamers though because its a relatively durable material. The one thing I really like about wool is once its wet it becomes like a rock. It's definitely a cheap & easy dubbing material when you're first starting out and don't have much luck with dubbing..

 

[JeffK]

I'm a big fan of wool yarn bodies. However, I prefer tapestry yarn over knitting yarn since it is finer and comes in smaller, less expensive packages. The problem is that tapestry yarn is getting harder for me to find. I get little pieces of left-over yarn from relatives who knit or do wool embroidery.

Wool yarn is traditional, is easy to use, makes a nice buggy body, comes in a whole bunch of colors, and sinks like a rock. That makes it great for nymphs and wets, but poor for dries and emergers. I use wool yarn for all my smaller stonefly nymph bodies and use it for woven stonefly patterns as well. Real wool makes great red tails/tags. A neutral tan or gray wool also makes a good underbody material for larger nymphs. I found a dark brown yarn a few years back that makes a great substitute for a pheasant tail body.

 

[shakey]

like jeff,i use real wool for my red tags.my girlriend sometimes dubs and ties soldier palmers with the same yarn,of which we have a lifetime supply.

we know a lot of knitting circle girls and they give us bags of yarn and chenille salvage.

chadwick's #77 anyone?

 

[shakey]

oops,i meant #477,the famous killer bug yarn.

it is a big money item now.i don't own any,but sure wouldn't mind.