Microwave on high for 30 seconds

A knitter's biggest fear, apart from running out of yarn, is moths. Being the proud owner of quite a large (and precious, and not exactly cheap) stash, I check my yarn regularly for any sign of infestation. Most of my yarn is in a room downstairs, and a few months ago, I organized it nicely in large transparent plastic storage boxes from Home Depot.

About 2 weeks ago, quietly knitting the evening away while watching mindless television, some flying thing caught my eye. I didn't think much of it. When I lived in Peru, my mother's clothes were once attacked by moths that ate away all her woolens (and yes, they were stored in cedar closets). I seemed to remember them as tiny and dark in colour. I thought this larger moth was just a night butterfly that sometimes makes its way into the house through the front door when the door is opened and closed to let the dog out.

A few days after that, I saw another one. I started to get a bit concerned and though I was in denial, promised myself to do a search on the Internet to find out what a North-American moth looked like. Which I did, a few days later. And the photo looked exactly like that yellow-orangey thing flying around the living room. I broke into a cold sweat and started going systematically through all the yarn I keep in the living room (WIPs, yarn recently bought, sock yarn too nice to put away downstairs, projects about to be started...) and nothing. Not a single flying object. Not an egg, no sign of infestation. I thought I was being paranoid and went back to the computer, did more searches and found a very interesting article about moths and wool rugs. Not a problem if the rug is regularly vacuumed; all the rugs in the house are vacuumed three times a week (not by me), so I'm not worried. I went back to knitting, sat down on the sofa, started to relax, and then heard the cat making a funny noise. He was playing with something and I could hear paper being torn, in the dining room, just in the next room, just a few feet from me. And that's when the penny dropped.

18 months ago, the floors on the main floor of our house were entirely re-finished; they were the original floors and they were so worn that the nail heads were showing everywhere. We have been living here 18 years and finally decided it was time to have a new floor put on top of the old one. We decided to have all the rugs cleaned at the same time, since our dachshund was finally house-broken and didn't think anymore that peeing on the rug was preferable to peeing outside. All the furniture had to be moved, it was a nightmare. But a little while later, we got the furniture organized and lay down the clean rugs again and enjoyed our new floors. All the rugs... except for one that fit under the dining room table, which is extremely heavy. We were lazy and left it, rolled up and still wrapped in its brown paper, against the wall of the dining room, promising each other to unpack it and lay it down under the table one of these days.

Yes... I went to the dining room and saw the cat was trying to wrestle with a little flying object that had just come out of the end of the roll. I called my husband and we fortunately decided to take the whole package OUTSIDE before removing the brown paper wrapper and unrolling the rug. The state of the rug was beyond my wildest fears. It's a big rug (about 8 by 10 feet) and entire sections of it were covered with moth eggs; there were huge bare patches where the larvae had eaten their way through the wool and left only the thread. About 20 moths went flying out of the rug. Needless to say, it was beyond repair and was left for the garbage pick-up. A couple of people knocked on the door and asked me if they could take it, thinking I was crazy to be throwing out a beautiful oriental rug. When I showed them the reason, they promptly moved away from the rug and from me, probably fearing they would bring the plague back home.

This happened a week ago. Today, I was sitting, knitting away, and I saw a flying object from the corner of my eye. I killed it, and then got worried again. What of the moths that had made their way out of the brown paper that covered the rug before we took it outside? I went through all the stash I keep in the living room once more, and that is in zippered plastic bags. Nothing. Except that there is one bag, my sock yarn bag, where about 20 skeins (STR, Wollmeise, Twisted, Fearless Fibers, J. Knits, and plenty more) are allowed to roam free. I turned it upside down on the floor... and out came a moth, flying away.

I checked every single skein for signs of eggs (getting a bit tired of this), couldn't find any, but proceeded anyway to microwave the skeins, two at a time. From what I read, that seems the most efficient solution. I tried 30 seconds on high; hopefully, it's enough. It took me a long time and the house smelled of hot and vaguely wet wool. Until I threw in a tiny sample skein of yarn that had some tiny shiny speckles. Nope, didn't check it, but I knew after 30 seconds. It was smoking and boy, did it stink up the house. Do not put yarn that has any kind of remotely metallic thread in it, no matter how tiny and unnoticeable. I am waiting for family members to come home and complain about the smell. I have been airing the house, but the stench seems to cling.

I don't know if that's the end of it; I will be checking my yarn periodically, but I have not had a good week. Combined with the three days of hell that started the week to get the income tax returns done on time (mine, my husband's, my son's -- I only do his because we get a tuition tax credit transferred from him to us, and because he would be incapable of doing it); being self-employed, it's a pain in the neck compared to the days I had only the T4, some T5s, and all the medical expenses were covered by the company's health insurance.

I did knit. I finished the Chain Lightning socks I was test-knitting for Sock-a-holic Katie and would you believe I can't find them now? So no photo until I find where I put the effing socks. I am also more than half-way through a birthday gift that is going to France mid-May for my godfather's wife:

This is knitspot's Oh! Canada wrap in the Tall size, knit in Ball and Skein's Artisan Merino and Silk, in The Blues colourway. It should take about five skeins; there are 10 repeats for each half of the wrap, then the two halves are joined together by grafting. I should have it finished on time to send to France and to arrive by May 30, which is the date of Jacqueline's birthday. I had started Simurgh for her:

 

but changed my mind after I found out her favourite colour is blue. I happened to have the perfect pattern and yarn for that, so I put Simurgh aside and knit Oh! Canada instead.

I also started a summer top for myself, Knititude's Etrusca Sleeveless Top, which I am knitting in Berroco Touché:

And finally, I have started a new pair of socks with a pattern of my own design:

 

I'm calling it Spring Leaves and it's knit with Michelle's own sock yarn. The yarn is called Sprung and it was part of her Project Spectrum last year. Here's a close-up of the motif:

That's it for knitting. I got the new IK, summer 2008 issue, and I must admit I'm a bit disappointed. I think the patterns are pretty, but they feel just that; they're all pretty and dainty, all the same theme. IK always used to have an edge to its patterns; some were more daring than others, and they covered a broad spectrum: the classic, the more avant-garde, the original, the downright crazy. Now it's all classic, all pretty, all on the verge of boring. I feel a bit let down; the last two issues were like that too, and I thought it was Eunny Jang asserting her own style preferences and introducing a new direction for IK, but that it would be more balanced with the new issues. Not to be -- I love classic designs, but I do appreciate variety too. Am I the only one?

Comments

[Katie]

I hope you have killed all those little buggers. I keep all of my yarn in ziploc bags and put those in rubbermaid totes out of fear.

Now you have an excuse to get a new rug. ;)

[anne]

wow, what a post; hope the moth scare is over soon! freezing everything for a couple of days will kill off any moths or eggs, BTW; that might be better than searching for them by eye!

and great knits too! i was thinking of you becasue i pulled out a precious skein of twisted yarn to start a new sock that i think will show off the color gradations nicely . . .

[Therese]

OMG, how awful! I am pretty paranoid about the little beasties as well and hope that you got them all. Somehow I don't think that my stash is quite as big as yours, but it sure ain't small (or cheap).

I am feeling a sudden need to check my bins...

[Cynthia]

HOLY CRAP! I can't even imagine. We have tons of moths up at the farm all the time and, touch wood, I haven't had any problems yet. As I was reading I was going to tell you about freezing the yarn but I see that Anne has already done so. I will be praying for you to be moth free Manon!

[Cynthia]

Duh...I meant to add something about your knitting. I love the wraps/shawls, they look awesome. I am definitely partial to the Simurgh, that colour is lovely. The sweater will be really great for summer. And your socks look fantastic! I love the pattern - I cannot wait to see them finished; the lace motif is really great Manon - nice job!