Catching Up . . . and Catching Bugs

Oooh, hey blog! It's, uh, it's been a while, hasn't it? But there's been so much going on!

I planted a tiny salad and herb container garden!


(I also planted a raised bed garden, which was then followed by two steady weeks of torrential rain.  I'm not showing you that one.)

We had Cake Day!


(Lucia's completely yummy pumpkin whoopie pie cake pictured here.  It didn't last long.)

I finished spinning some yarn that I started at last year's SPA!


(Fiber is BFL in the colorway "Seaweed" from the Portland Fiber Gallery.  I snagged it right before I left for New Zealand.  Yardage is around 650 for 7 or so ounces, fingering to sportweight.)

I hung out with Maggie's foster kittens! (And hung out some more.  And then some more.)


(This is Waffles.  She's adorable.)

I visited the Maine Fiber Frolic!


(One of the gorgeous merino fleeces at the fleece tent.  I did not succumb, but it was a hard struggle.)


(Lunch.  I LOVE fair food.)

But besides these things, and work, and designing, and running (did I mention I started running? I'm sidelined right now with a foot injury, but can't wait to get back out there!), the big thing I'm battling is beetles.  Right about when we were having the first of our really rainy periods here in Maine (the first of MANY), I started noticing these little beetles near the front door of my apartment.  There were two kinds, one bullet-shaped and dark brown, and one round and zebra stripey.  I just figured that they were lost or coming indoors because it was rainy, and didn't pay them any attention.  To be honest, I thought that I was just seeing the same two bugs, hopelessly lost and befuddled by my apartment.  One night right before bed, though, I googled them (note: never google suspicious bugs right before bed), and found out what they were.

Drugstore beetles and carpet beetles.

CARPET BEETLES.

MY WOOOOOOOOOOL!

So after not sleeping at all that night due to hyperventilation, I enlisted the help of my saint of a mother the next weekend, and we went through Every.  Single.  Skein. of yarn in my stash.  And all the fiber.  And all the weaving yarns.  And the swatches.  And the sweaters.  And the scarves and shawls and socks.  Let me tell you, I didn't really think I had that large a stash (though what I do have is disproportionately chartreuse) until I pulled it all out into one place.

So we went through every single piece of fiber in my house, and you know what we found? Five beetles, all in stuff that had been out in the open or by the front window.  WHEW.  After thanking the fiber gods profusely, we spent the rest of the afternoon shoving every single thing into a Ziploc and sacheting it for all it was worth.  Here's what my stash looks like now:



Since then, I've seen a few beetles, but I've been pretty vigilant about keeping everything tucked away and clean.  In addition, the sachets I made are helping to keep the critters away, so I thought I'd share the recipe here for those with, god forbid, a similar problem.

Beetle-Be-Gone Sachets:
2 parts cedar shavings or chips
1 part lavender
1 part thyme
1 part rosemary

Combine and stuff into mesh teabags or cheesecloth. 

I found bouquet garni bags at the local Whole Foods that have been working wonderfully.  These also make your wool smell lovely!

So now that the beetles are on their way out, I'm hoping I can breathe a little sigh of relief and get on with my summer plans.  What are you up to this summer?