Still no Lace Panel Cardi, I'm afraid. A couple of deadlines joined forces to club me in a sneak attack and then I discovered that my house and my garden have (separately) been attacked by the two most dread things possible: moths and aphids.
Very minor attacks on both quarters, but still the whole weekend was spent panicking, cleaning, panicking, tossing things out, panicking, cleaning, with a bit of tossing things out and panicking on the side. Fortunately every scrap of yarn and fabric I own has been hermetically sealed in plastic casings for just such an emergency (unattractive, sure, but I rarely achieve that level of forward thinking). All of our clothes are in the process of being laundered in high heat, freezed or dry cleaned. It's a mountain, I tell you. The upside is that we now have a fantastically clean house and I haven't seen a moth since Sunday (fingers crossed). The downside is that we now have to vacuum every day for the next four to six weeks to ensure that we catch any escapees. Actually, the other upside is that I have an official excuse to buy up an acres-worth of lavender, thyme and rosemary plants; they're nature's own moth repellent and have been strategically placed at all windows, on bookcases and in two cupboards (with time out to get some sun each afternoon). I'm going to spend next weekend making up sachets full of dried lavender, cloves and lemon to hang in our closets and stuff between couch cushions.
The weekend was also spent concocting various garlic tinctures for the garden, which worked wonderfully well. The only downside to this is that it smells like a garlic factory. The upside is that we are now safe from vampires and missionaries.
Also, because we don't have enough creepy crawlies creeping about, some cheeky spider dumped her egg sack outside our dining room window and it positively EXPLODED Sunday night. There are now a thousand spider babies exploring the onions that are growing om my window sill, though most of them have migrated to the gutter, where they are currently plotting my doom.
It must be that time of year! I spent yesterday spraying Windolene inside all my cupboards after finding... shudder... larvae under a packet of noodles. Windolene? Well, I thought it was the anti-bacterial spray - looks the same! My daughter has never moved so fast,and it certainly put her off noodles for a while!
Posted by: Roobeedoo | May 05, 2009 at 02:48 PM
Spiders, at least, are helpful bugs. They may not be plotting your doom. They may be lying in wait for tasty moths to flit unsuspectingly into their webs.
Posted by: walterknitty | April 29, 2009 at 02:24 PM
I spotted a clothes moth in my place on the wall and immediately squished it, only to then find it had deposited its nasty little eggs throughout an amazing piece of knitting that I have inherited via the UFO administration service project. I immediately thrust UFO into giant pan, boiled it to within an inch of its life, whilst extra skeins were boiled in hot water also and remnants and things still on the needles went straight into the deep freeze. I had to go away the next day; I hope I will not be returning to find my entire stash and all woollen wares ravaged by escapees...
...good luck in your quest against the forces of darkness.
Posted by: Felix | April 29, 2009 at 08:12 AM
oh. my. god.
Posted by: kate | April 29, 2009 at 03:02 AM
ARGH! Moths!! Admirably played... I would have been in such a state by now!
Posted by: little_lj | April 28, 2009 at 08:21 PM
Reading that made me start itching and scratching at my hair.
Ngg - ask Mel what kind of emergency mass freezer action happened took place in South West London when variegated carpet beetles struck and muched their way through a skein of my custom dyed, 2 ply Posh Yarn cashmere and also one of the hand knit socks that took me 2 months to make and had been worn once.
They were not kept together either. Nope, one was upstairs and one was downstairs.
I reckon the b'tards had been watching me for weeks, no months, to work out where to hit me the nastiest.
Posted by: Gabrielle | April 28, 2009 at 07:53 PM
jeez, seems like everything with more than 4 legs has decided to invade this weekend!
good luck. i just went out and bought tons of lavender and thyme yesterday for inside and outside.
Posted by: Kirsten | April 28, 2009 at 04:01 PM
I think the creepy crawlies have learnt to twitter and have hatched a mass plan of destruction. My french bean plants were suddenly vanished overnight....not even a little stump was left by the sadistic snot trailing snails. Grrrrrr!! I hope they gave them tummy ache!!
Posted by: sparklycat | April 28, 2009 at 03:54 PM
oh, blurg! attack of the many legged! (shudder)
constant vigilance and good luck!
Posted by: Eliza | April 28, 2009 at 03:45 PM
OMG you have been invaded !!
Good luck
Posted by: sophie | April 28, 2009 at 01:29 PM