Yes. That little, shimmery, golden-winged creature is a clothes moth. They are actually kind-of pretty and a bit adorable with their tiny, fuzzy heads and shiny, black eyes --- very non-threatening to behold. Non-threatening, unless, of course, you are like me: a knitter. A knitter with a WALL of yarn in which 70% of it is made up of some animal-based fiber (wool, alpaca, cashmere, silk, etc.). It's like a never-ending buffet of tasty moth delights!
To say I have an infestation would be an extreme exaggeration. I have seen 3-4 of these flying around the house over the last couple of weeks. I finally got the emotional strength to look in the closets last night and I found 3 of them living on that pink, fuzzy, angora nightmare (a beautiful nightmare, to be sure) of a cowl neck I knit a couple years ago, which I lovingly refer to as Nummy Muffin Coocol Butter.
And there were two of them just chillin' together on that felt hat (see previous post). No holes or damage to either item, mercifully. But where there is smoke, there is usually fire and I'm not taking any chances.
So I did a preliminary cleaning of just the surfaces in that room with Trader Joe's Cedarwood & Sage cleaner. I love this stuff. I use it to clean all over the house. I left a sponge soaked with it on top the the wall-o-yarn too. This weekend, I am going to begin the process of pulling everything out of that wall shelving unit (whimper) and checking it out for damage.
First glancing over everything last night and it all looks perfectly intact. I actually reorganized this monster a few months ago. And everything was cool then. But, as I learned from the great internet, moths like to be in the dark and their larvae are what eat the fiber. So it's possible that there has been some serious snackin' going on where I can't see. RAGE. Deep breaths...deep breaths....
Then I will have to thoroughly wipe down all the cubbie holes. I'm debating buying some large-ish clear, plastic bags to put the yarn in before committing it back into the wall unit. I find it more difficult to figure out what I have when they're all crammed in bags. And aesthetically it looks like crap. So I don't know. I have a few space bags, but Titus likes to chew on them. (Oh, Titus, WHY?) and I never had that much success with space bags anyway. They don't ever deflate as much as they show on TV. Not even half as much.
I don't know about you, but the scent of moth balls makes me gag, or think of that one great-great aunt that you had who you met when you were like four and she had a weird parrot and wore her apron backwards and ate potatoes raw...and then gag. But, I absolutely love the smell of cedar. So I plan on using that as a defense. Some people say cedar is fool-proof (right up my alley!) for getting rid of moths and others say that the moths point and laugh and continue swaddling their babies in your merino. Since I find the scent pleasant, I did order some cedar balls and cedar oil from Amazon. Those should arrive early next week.
So wish me luck as I try to nip these little beasties in the bud. I'll try to keep you posted.
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