A day out at the Wool Fair

My wife, along with being a quilter, is a knitter. She has also, in the
past spun her own yarn. So yesterday, to support her hobbies, we went
to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. JACKPOT!!!
If you have such an even near you, GO! Don't walk, RUN! Do you want
dubbing? How about angora rabbit and silk? This stuff is the most
awesome dubbing I've ever seen. Very soft and translucent. It can be
mixed with many other fibers and is very strong. In any color of the
rainbow you could want. It comes in what the wool spinners call
"roving." This is a two inch diameter cylinder that is sold by the
ounce. They also have pencil roving that is about the diameter of a
pencil. This is very nice for dubbing. Oh, by the way, you can get an
ounce of the stuff for about a dollar to two dollars. This is enough to
fill a brown lunch bag. Enough for about 250 size 6 golden stonefly
nymphs. I told some of the folks there how much we, as fly tyers, spend
on this and they have decided that they are selling to the wrong crowd.
Hell, they will hand you samples in each color that are enough to
make 100 flies (per color)!
Wool. Wool head sculpins are great, but wool can be spun like deer hair
to make any bulky pattern you want. It holds water and sinks. Also,
for those deep nymphs, such as a helgrammite pattern, this is perfect
dubbing.
Angora - there is angora rabbit and goat. The goat (and also sheep
wool) has whats called "staples." These are hanks of hair, 2 to about 6
inches long, that are perfect streamer fibers. Again, you can buy it
dyed or natural. The angora goat is perfect for this. Very alive in
the water. It really sparkles. Can you say striper flies? I know
thats what I'm making. The angora rabbit makes perfect dubbing.
What else. Llama and alpaca. Llama is coarser, alpaca is very fine and
long. Again, good streamer material. I've also found that with all of
these fibers, if you get them in the natural state (i.e. before they
turn it into roving), you can twist them together and make dubbing ropes
(the lanolin and oils help this, along with the kinks of the fiber).
Just a few hairs, twisted, can make a wonderfully fine midge body. Tie
in at the back and wrap forward.
Side items at the fair. Small carding combs work well to mix dubbing.
You can mix the dubbing without chopping (as in a coffee grinder).
Yarns and chenniles by the score. Whole deer hides for 25 bucks (dye
your own). Thirty-dollar, hand-made fisherman's knit sweaters (got a
really nice one that will keep me warm on the river this fall and
winter). Lamb chops and mint sauce till you puke. I really enjoyed the
working dog show too. Take a day, take the spouse and kids (two or four
legged kind) and have a field day.

--
Frank Reid
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Frank Reid wrote:
If you have such an even near you, GO!

If you have such an event near you, GO!

--
Frank Reid
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Frank Reid wrote in news:c75dha$la0$2
@newslocal.mitre.org:



Frank Reid wrote:
If you have such an even near you, GO!

If you have such an event near you, GO!


Even better, my friend has about a dozen and a half llamas and about a
dozen angora and cas-gora goats. I keep telling him he'd get more money
from the fly shops than the fiber market, but he won't believe me.
Meanwhile, I like the llama hair for dubbing nymphs.

Scott

I found out we have in Asheville, North Carolina (not surprising) this
coming October. Last year they had 78 exhibitors. Not that I need anymore
fly tying materials but...

Thanks for letting us in on the "secret".

-John

"Frank Reid" wrote in message
...


Frank Reid wrote:
If you have such an even near you, GO!

If you have such an event near you, GO!

--
Frank Reid
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On Mon, 03 May 2004 08:19:48 -0400, Frank Reid
wrote:

My wife, along with being a quilter, is a knitter. She has also, in the
past spun her own yarn. So yesterday, to support her hobbies, we went
to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. JACKPOT!!!
If you have such an even near you, GO!



*snippage*


I did a quick web search and surprise surprise there is one that is
going to be held an hour away from us on the 22ndin Shawano, WI. It
has the added bonus of being a short drive from a couple streams I've
been meaning to try. I'll run it by my wife, the knitter, and maybe
we'll make a day of it.

http://www.fiberthing.org/index.htm


g.c.

I did a quick web search and surprise surprise there is one that is
going to be held an hour away from us on the 22ndin Shawano, WI. It
has the added bonus of being a short drive from a couple streams I've
been meaning to try. I'll run it by my wife, the knitter, and maybe
we'll make a day of it.

http://www.fiberthing.org/index.htm

Have a blast. If you really want to freak out the retailers, take a pack of
dubbing (bunny would be good) that has the pricetag on it. Show it to them.
Watch their faces.
One lady has a magazine called "Wild Fibers." She will be doing an article
next spring on fly tying. I'm going to help her with it. Should be fun.

--
Frank Reid
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"Frank Reid" wrote in
:

I did a quick web search and surprise surprise there is one that is
going to be held an hour away from us on the 22ndin Shawano, WI. It
has the added bonus of being a short drive from a couple streams I've
been meaning to try. I'll run it by my wife, the knitter, and maybe
we'll make a day of it.

http://www.fiberthing.org/index.htm

Have a blast. If you really want to freak out the retailers, take a
pack of dubbing (bunny would be good) that has the pricetag on it.
Show it to them. Watch their faces.
One lady has a magazine called "Wild Fibers." She will be doing an
article next spring on fly tying. I'm going to help her with it.
Should be fun.


Turns out my friend was at the Maryland Fair this weekend. His wife likes
the fiber circuit.

Scott

"Frank Reid" wrote in message
...

Have a blast. If you really want to freak out the retailers, take a pack
of
dubbing (bunny would be good) that has the pricetag on it. Show it to
them.
Watch their faces.
One lady has a magazine called "Wild Fibers." She will be doing an
article
next spring on fly tying. I'm going to help her with it. Should be fun.


I have several packs of angora dubbing I'll take along.

I have several packs of angora dubbing I'll take along.

Hey, they'll freak. Its always a kick in the pants talking to them when
they hear how much we're paying. They want to jump into our market so
badly, but 99.9% of them don't have a clue about fly tying. I intend to
open a few eyes with the article.

--
Frank Reid
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"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...

I did a quick web search and surprise surprise there is one that is
going to be held an hour away from us on the 22ndin Shawano, WI. It
has the added bonus of being a short drive from a couple streams I've
been meaning to try. I'll run it by my wife, the knitter, and maybe
we'll make a day of it.

http://www.fiberthing.org/index.htm


Maybe I'll see you there. A bit of a drive from Milw. but the wife would
enjoy the time out of the house.