Matthew Yglesias Metaphor Watch

No homonyms in this post but a wonderful mixed metaphor "The grain of truth that this lie is spun out of". Has anyone ever managed to spin thread out of a grain ? The deliberate spinning (in this case like spinning thread with a spinning wheel not like putting back spin on a 3 point attempt) means that "the grain of truth out of which this lie sprouted" is no good, but how about "the filament of truth that this lie is spun out of" or "the nanotubule of truth that this lie is spun out of" ?

I concede that Matt's mixed metaphor is much better than my unmixed efforts.