Sunday, April 05, 2009

The Survivors.

Most everything but the Dale of Norway made it. (Heather, thank you for the advice on felting it. I ran right out, grabbed it out of the trash, and threw it in the washing machine. Long story short, it's apparently superwash and didn't felt. But after that it was well and truly trashed, and I felt no guilt or sorrow at pitching it. So thanks for the help. It was a really good idea.)


Innsvenget and the circular cardi both made it. (One or the other is top of the list for the Next Finished Project. I'm thinking cardi.)

I'm remaining casual because Innsvenget is knit of mothproofed yarn and frankly, if bugs haven't eaten it down to nothing yet, they never will (and of four sweaters and umpteen balls of that yarn in the closet, every last damn thing was untouched). The cardi is cotton, and therefore not on the Little Bastards' food list. The alpaca project, surprisingly, also made it. I think in that case it's because it was in a plastic bag. Literally. Not a zip-loc or a grocery bag, but a plastic bag meant for taking to the beach. Since it seemed to be working, I put it all back in the bag and hung it on a wall hook for some added safety.


Most of the roving bit the dust. All that survived was stuff sealed in plastic, namely shop stock (which is also in a plastic, sealed storage container) and the two rovings you see here. They were what I most loved, and so were in plastic, though not religiously sealed, though they are now. Obviously.

The white one is the soft-as-a-baby's-butt merino roving that Bells sent me from Australia, hand to hand from her, to her brother-in-law, to my in-laws, to me. The brown one is llama that was sent to me as a gift by Historic Stitcher. The carbon fiber (the grey hank there in the front, and bags and bags more sitting on the shelf) is of course untouched. I'm leaving it open on purpose in the hopes the Little Bastards will go for it. From all I know of carbon fiber, it will kill them slowly and nastily. Eat, Little Bastards. I dare you.


Other than the Dale, all the sweaters, jumpers, cardis, capes, and ruana-thingies made it.

Most of them are knit with Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport, as is Innsvenget, and permanently moth/bug/Little Bastard proofed. I cannot say enough good things about this yarn. I think because the sweaters were in a hanging shelf sort of thing, and not touching the floor or anything else but the hanging bar at the top, the bugs just couldn't get to them. At this point, these shelves are stuffed with all of the lavender sachets taken from among the yarn, PLUS there is a ceramic lavender diffuser hanging next to it.

You throw open the door to The Pit right now, and the menthol makes your eyes water.

Now, the only things on the floor are cotton, and leftover bits of wool from previous projects, some as old as ten years (which is when I started knitting clothing). Occasionally I get a wild hair and knit something feltable, felt it, and throw it away, from these raw materials.

I've bagged them up even though I don't really give a rip about them.


There are, near as I can tell, only two up sides to this whole thing. One, this is less stuff I have to move in July. And two?

The Pit is much less a pit now.


And now, the husbeast has popped a spring in his Lazyboy recliner and I have to go demonstrate my upholstering abilities. We may end up with a C clamp permanently affixed to the spring network. Or hose clamps, it's turning out.

At least the Goob is entertained.

9 comments:

Amy Lane said...

And why is the bottom of furniture so much more interesting than the top?

But congratulations on a (mostly) untouched stash... Little Bastard proofing is highly desirable in a fiber...

Louiz said...

I'm glad your final toll wasn't as bad as it could have been, and I might have to look out some of that brown sheep wool stuff.

Leonie said...

Hooray for "The Survivors" so glad there was no more damage. Oh and you mean to tell us that hanging thingy is full of unfinished objects? Seriously? This is the Year of Finishing Objects isn't it? So by the end of the year it will be what half empty???? Talk about giving yourself a challenge :-)

Bells said...

I'm really so glad the roving I sent you survived. If it hadn't, that fibre day where I bought it is coming up again next month and I'd have got more.

Liz said...

Glad it wasn't totally catastrophic, but such a shame about that Dale sweater...

historicstitcher said...

I'm glad the llama I sent you survived. I would have sent you more, though, if it hadn't.

And I'm surprised the llama prject survived! Llama is SO notorious for attracting LBs. Good to know that thick plastic will deter them! (I know thin plastic doesn't!)

Roz said...

Whew!

Alwen said...

I hate to be the one to say it aloud, but adult carpet beetles, being beetles, can fly. The larvae that do all the damage are fortunately stuck with crawling.

OSU says they will sometimes feed on "cotton, linen, rayon, and jute, especially when stained with spilled food and animal excreta".
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2103.html

HATE 'em. I mostly get varied carpet beetles here. If you can find diatomaceous earth, I use it along our baseboards to discourage the various nasties that like to come in or hide there.

Oh, yeah, and in case you didn't find it in your research, BugGuide:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/11210/bgimage

(You'll be wanting to spray your monitor after looking!)

O.M.G. My verification word is "T-rations". It's MREs now, guys!

Donna Lee said...

You made me paranoid. I was spinning yesterday and found what I at first thought might be a bug but turned out to be a small hard fuzzy. But, it made me go through the basket and put things in plastic....