Trying to Look on the Bright Side.

This weekend I sat on my couch and worked on knitting a legwarmer for myself. I soldiered through 9 mind-numbing inches of 2 x 2 ribbing to get to the cake: delicious, textural cables.

I needed a new ball a few rows into the charts. As I reached for a new ball, I noticed the yarn looked a bit frayed a few inches from the end, so I joined the new ball well past the broken bit. I knitted a few more rounds, squinting at charts--this pattern requires you to keep track of two charts at the same time to maintain the pattern. I noticed another frayed bit in my yarn. I let it slide. It was only a little broken so I figured it might just be a bad spot in the yarn. Another, quite badly broken spot came up.

I put down the knitting and the charts to asses what I should do. Rip back to a good spot, break the yarn and rejoin the ball past the broken spot? It seemed like the easiest thing to do. I unrolled my ball a bit and every few inches found frayed ends. I poked my fingers in and dug around. More broken plies. Now I was getting worried. This is a telltale sign of moth infestation.

I walked across the room to the drawer I stored the yarn in. I picked up another ball of yarn that looked like it had sawdust on it (not uncommon in the entertainment unit Hubby built) The sawdust was stuck to the yarn. Uh oh. I couldn't find what was stuck to my yarn on Google, but I am assuming the worst. Moths. More Googling.

My plan of attack is the freeze/thaw method of abatement. Freeze my yarn to kill any live bugs and force eggs into hibernation. Thaw my yarn to get the eggs to hatch, and then freeze again to kill the newly born babies. Repeat. (Harsh, I know. I feel no remorse)

I feel dirty. Violated. I wonder if my knitting friends will still speak to me and knit with me. Are moths contaigous?

Bright side you ask? There is a bright side to taking your stash away for a week, including all current works in progress?

• It gave me the opportunity to sort my yarn. Everything is outside in baggies, sorted by weight and project.
• I looked at and put my hands on every work in progress I have. A good reality check.
• I vacuumed some nooks and crannies that don't normally get vacuumed.

I checked my basement stash. It has been sealed in plastic bins with lavender sachets so it (touch cedar) seems ok. That is a relief.

Now, what do I do? I have five projects in baggies outside. I have Vest-uary coming up in February. Should I cast on something from the basement stash to bide my time with this week? I don't think I can quit cold turkey.