uh-oh.

I found moths in my apartment, and not the mealmoths I've been fighting away from my grain products. Wool-eating moths.

It took some hunting to find their nest of evil, hidden under lots of plant-fiber clothing, but it was in a sweater that I'd've sworn was 100% acrylic. Turns out that the sweater was 30% wool. I would be distraught right now, rather than merely upset, but the infestation seems (*knocking on wood*) to have been confined to the part of my bedroom by the back windows (incidentally, the only part of my apartment of which I've posted pictures), and the only yarn I've thrown out has been some ecowool. But my freezer is now stuffed full of yarn, fiber, my highland triangle shawl, and a (woven) wool stole I bought a while ago. And my mountain peaks shawl, which is the only really sad bit--I saw a moth in the project bag and shoved it into the freezer without looking any further. The final determination can be made when I'm not worried about spreading moths. My Sunday afternoon also took on a lot more laundry than it was supposed to have included, as I washed everything that might've been hiding moths. (Including a wool sweater I'd gotten for free a few years ago, which is now actually close to the right size.)

I haven't done an exhaustive search of my yarn and fiber stashes this afternoon, but I'm reasonably confident that there's no major infestation in either, what with the number of times lately that I've poked through them, and the nasty little caterpillars were at the opposite end of my apartment. The thorough stash inspections are going to come after the exposed clothing is back out of the way.

I am now cautiously optimistic. But someone should tell me immediately if the freeze-thaw-freeze system is insufficient.

________

In happier news, I have started three new knitting projects since I finished the autumn sunset shawl. Two scarves and a blanket. Because I am crazy. But one of the scarves is a really simple cable pattern in the fuzziest mohair ever, and the other is the neuron-illusion scarf I've been meaning to start for the last year. And the blanket is a freeform thing combining all of the green yarn I could pull out of my stash: mostly single skeins that were gifts, all small enough quantities that I couldn't do much with them by themselves. It's coming along nicely, and I'm weaving in ends as I go...so it seems a little less insane than it could be.

And here are a couple of pictures of the mohair scarf, since it both 1)looks like something and 2)fits in the sunny corner of my windowsill.

Comments

[jody]

oh no. even though it's awful, it sounds like you caught it early and it could have been worse. *crossing fingers* that your mountain peaks shawl was spared.

[Anne]

I live in fear of moths. New Jersey seemed devoid of moths, and in general CO is pretty bug-free, but a knitter friend lost half her stash... and I saw a moth at the office. Shudder.

[June]

Jeeze. Effing moths. Honestly, I don't know if freeze-thaw-freeze works. I think freeze-heat-freeze (and I'd do it 2x for good measure) is the way to go. I don't know the temp at which wool will burn, but try to get it to the temp of a car trunk on a hot summer day with a black plastic bag full of wool yarn...

I've had moths in the past. Moths SUCK.