I had to do something tonight that has me almost to the brink of tears.
I had to throw out a whole fleece.
Not just any fleece. The very first fleece I ever bought. It was a black Shetland fleece. $40 gone. I don’t know if I’m more upset about losing $40 or the fact that it was my first fleece ever bought and I never got to spin it.
As I was writing this, it occurred to me that I had started to process it. In fact, I had a little bit of it in my living room in a box. Maybe, just MAYBE this wasn’t the source of the infestation. Well… Nope. No dice. I looked in and sure enough, there was a satin-winged little *&$#@ staring right up at me. So out it went with everything else.
Whether it was the source or not, I’ll never really know. What I do know is that when I opened up the pillow case in the tote that I had put it in not so long ago, they they were. Want to know the irony? It was also the first fleece I put in a pillowcase and tote. I have this really bad feeling that I should probably toss the other fleece out that was in the tote with it. I’m going to double check on that one though. They were in separate pillow cases and I didn’t see any moths when I opened it up. For the meantime though, the tote is quarantined out on my deck as a precaution.
As far as the source goes, I do have a couple of theories. I won’t say because I don’t want to send anyone into a panic, but I’ve got it narrowed down to one of two places. As I was reading up on it, I noticed that the larvae stage can last up to 30 months! This would make sense then if it was from my first fleece. I bought it 2 years ago in July. I did wash it, but I know I didn’t do it right. That was before I learned the tips about washing that I know now. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it or not.
The other thing I did wrong was to not put in into a tote right away. So there is a good chance that other wool that I have since brought in could very well have been the culprit. I know, I know. If a certain somebody is reading this post, I’m sure she’s thinking “I told you so!” Well, yes you did. And now I understand why. I think it was a lesson I had to learn on my own though so that I could share with the people I will be teaching down the road. But then I’ll probably run into a “me” that will do the same damn thing. Then I’ll get to say “I told you so!” hehehe
I’m hoping and praying that I have found the problem areas so that I can move forward. I know I’m going to have some cleanup and more prevention ahead of me. But I guess that’s part of the package. I’d rather fight off moths than never have discovered my love of fluff in the first place.
What did Kyla learn from all of this? Don’t bring dirty fleece into your house to store (already knew that, didn’t do it). Wash it with hot water and specialized detergent ASAP (already knew that and did it). As soon as it’s dry, put it in a pillowcase inside a tote with a sachet full of Marty’s magical herb mix (didn’t do it soon enough, left the fleece in a plastic bag – this is why they tell you NOT to!). Put the pillowcase inside a plastic tote (Nope, didn’t do that soon enough either).
You have my permission to say “But I told you so” the next time you see me. But it must be preceded by a “I’m sorry for your loss.” I mean, I still did lose a pretty fleece, possibly two.
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