It's True, I Have Fiber Chlamydia

Yep, it's happened. And I know at this point that many of the knitter/spinners that may read this are shaking their head in sympathy for a whole other reason than the other readers here. And many of the others are just confused... Fiber Chlamydia? Yes, that's right, fiber clap is here. Moths... More specifically, their little crawling larvae.

This is some Llama that I picked up along the way that I've been working with the last two days. The very last foot of roving or so I found the little bastard as I drafted it onto my wheels bobbin. There was some language that Bob mentioned was not my usual spinning vocabulary.

So today, I cooked it. I cooked it good. Then I froze it... Then I cooked and froze it again. That is how I know to get rid of pesky little insect buddies because most eggs and larvae don't like wild swings in temperature. The sub-zero freezer to 180 degree's of the ovens lowest setting is about as wild as I can do with out singeing the finished yarn. I hope it works but it will still be kept in isolation as we watch for further signs of infestation.

Actually, this came from an outdoor festival and since between two batches of roving I only saw the single little worm and no other crawlers or eggs as I drafted out a fairly small gauge yarn, I'm not truly one hundred percent positive this was a wool eater. There was no obvious damage to the fiber and PLENTY of organic material in it for the little bugger to munch on should he be a vegetarian.

See, that's about a 10'th of the crap that I picked our of this yarn, or that the spinning process pushed out. I had to vacuum after each spinning session.

Bob got a little upset by this encounter after he found out what my cussing was about. Now, like any non-knitter or less experienced fiber skank he thought my cussing was directed towards the farm this came from. Earlier in the spinning session as I once again within 30 seconds had to stop to pick out crap from the yarn, there was some llama rancher directed cussing. But no, this time my cussing was directed towards my piss poor luck.

You see, getting moths, larvae, or carpet beetles to the yarn snob and fiber hoarder that I am, is the inevitable equivalent to sunset boulevard hooker who doesn't use protection coming down with burning while urination symptoms of deeper issues. Yes, that's right, by pulling in large amounts of of fluffy animal fiber stuff, I partake in risky fiber behavior. I try to minimize the impact by keeping different batches in good plastic bags (think of them as shopping condoms), use plastic storage bins and inspect my stash regularly always vigilant for the little bastards. Yes, sometimes I look like a chimp grooming yarn for, oh let's call them yarn crabs. But unfortunately, sometimes a bit of bad luck comes your way no matter what you do to combat it. And can I complain? Well, I could, but damn if I didn't set up an entire buffet sans the good silver and twinkle lights so am I surprised that the little buggers hit the hairy Golden Corral? Nope, not at all... So baking the yarn is what happens from my little YTD(Yarn Transmitted Disease) issue.

And speaking of creating a good little yarn crab buffet, I got the "Dear Dark Heart" fiber from October's fiber club done!

In the words of the Sleep Talkin' Man, "If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, behold bitches!" It's lovely. 4oz of a wonderful 75%BFL and 25%Tussah Silk blend that gave me a finished 2 ply sportish weight 200yds. I think this one will stay in my stash awaiting for the perfect project.

And now I've moved on to my DragonFly. I have 12oz of this Polwarth/Silk blend to play with and as you can see, I am spinning it out very thinly in the hope of geting a lot of yardage in a 3 ply finished yarn.

Here's hoping.

Oh, and regards to the silly cat that was seen in one of the last postings... That's one of the heated dog beds that I bought for the old girl. The dog that is, that Smudge has deemed are truly hers.

She worships them. Can you tell? Now if only you'd scratch her chin.