Anyone interested in some free mop fly yarn? If so, let me know and I will send some your way. I have tied a few mop flies using the car mitts you buy at auto parts stores, but for the most part they don't have too many natural colors. I looked into buying the mop fly yarn they sell in fly stores, but it is like $6 for a tiny package. Instead of doing that I went to Joann and bought a 220 yard roll of blanket yarn for $7. It is the exact same thing and it is obviously more than I could use in 20 lifetimes. (The ball of yarn is the size of a watermelon.) The ball I got is called Sonoma and is a mix of sand, light olive, white and brown colored yarn. Here is a link to the material. http://www.joann.com/bernat-blanket-big-ball-yarn/zprd_13490602a.html#histogram (Sonoma is the fifth row down in the far left column.)

I'll ship anyone who is interested as much material as they want. In return all I ask is you tie up a few of your favorite flies and send them my way. You decide what you tie: buggers, nymphs, crab or shrimp patterns, etc... I like trying out other tiers flies and this seems like a good way to do so. Just shoot me a PM on here and I will send the yarn your way.

Does the end of that stuff - the cut ends - get frayed? Or how do these flies end up looking?

I haven't fished the flies yet, but I have been taking a lighter to the cut end to stop it from fraying. I read online that that is the best way to deal with it, but like I said, I haven't used the flies yet so I am not sure how durable it will be. Even after you take the lighter to the yarn you can't really see a burnt area (like if you were burning paracord or something similar) so the yarn looks normal when on the fly.

Threw them a bit today and the way I have tied them currently is not too durable, at least compared to tying the flies using the chenille from the automotive mits. Let me go back to the drawing board and report back.

singe the cut end with a lighter or match or double the chenille over and twist it like some caddis patterns

the mitts are usually a microfiber
sometimes you can find mitts or mops with much smaller nubbins

I've had the best luck with orange and lime but I do use gray modified with sharpies as well