Tying Trials: craft yarn

Now that I've scored a healthy cache of a perfectly good antron substitute, it was time to hit the vise. What better patterns to trial, than the highly successful X Factor nymph, the antron special, and a basic beadhead caddis pattern. Let's see how it turned out:

The X Factor nymph.

The eXtreme Factor nymph, a giant size 6 version of the X Factor.

The Antron Special nymph.

Orange caddis nymph.

Green caddis nymph.

Brown caddis nymph.

All in all, the craft yarn made for a good tie. It was a bit bulkier tying bodies compared to the antron, but that will benefit in the long run, as less materials will be needed to build up bodies. I made a dubbing mix from the yarn for the caddis patterns. I cut the yarn fibers with some Angelina and blended about a 65/35% mix, respectively. The contents mixed well, but did not spin on the thread as well as a commercial blend. I tried adding some dubbing wax to the thread, but it did not improve much. I will cut in some hares ear to the blend during my next tying session. Hopefully that will improve the adhesion to the thread. Regardless, the teased out fibers on the orange caddis pattern has got to be trapping some air bubbles in it. Fucking dynamite.

Everything looks good, the yarn passed the tying demo with flying colors. Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile! Time to give these bad boys a field trial and prove once and for all that this stuff is sweeter than antron.

Cheers!


- the roughfisher