Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Yes, I know it’s been four (!!!) years since I last posted here.

Knitting-wise, not a ton happened until the end of last year, partly because my wrists were an issue and partly because I just didn’t feel like knitting for awhile. Life-wise, well. We all know what’s been going on in the world, right? At least, I certainly hope we do, because I’d really rather not get into it much on this specific platform.

I’ve decided to revive my blog, mainly because I’d like to start documenting my knitting again. Fortunately, I never relied solely on Ravelry, so at least I don’t have to fully rebuild project pages here or anything. As far as my WIPs and FOs go, I can just start posting them here, without the “cross post to Ravelry” step that used to be part of my process.

I do have a significant amount of blog reworking to do, though, since web design’s changed a lot in the past four years and my layout was a bit outdated even in 2016. So in the coming weeks, in addition to catching up on FOs, I’ll also be working on updating the layout, adding alt tags to images, and other site maintenance. I’ll also be removing all Ravelry links, due to how they are (not) handling accessibility.

That’s all for now. More to come!

There is so much going on in the world that I am still struggling to process. I’m mostly keeping that to other spaces rather than on this blog – but I guess I just want you all to know that I am here, I am aware, and I am listening. And calling out bullshit when needed.

In the meantime, virtual hugs to anyone who needs them.

Hello, world! It’s been awhile. The most pertinent-to-this-blog bits of my life since my last post:

• Not only did I get way behind on documenting my FOs, but I also took a good 10-month hiatus from knitting, mainly due to repetitive stress injury. I picked it up again a couple of months ago, but I’m not doing it anywhere near as frequently as I used to, and it’s likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
• Some friends and I have been in a book club for nearly three years now. This is relevant because it’s helped me change my reading habits some (a topic for a future blog post, I think).
• I’ve developed some new food allergies, which means T and I have had to rethink some of our previous healthy eating strategies, which… well, that’s more than I can discuss in a bullet point.

I can’t promise I’ll blog super-frequently about these things, or about other hobbies. But I can at least try to post more than once a year!

I’ll be starting by catching up on 2+ years’ worth of knitting – I’ve photographed about half the backlog so far, so I should have at least some to share soon!

So, it’s been awhile since I blogged, and I was planning on a more cheerful return. However, this blog post is brought to you by… carpet beetles.

Compared to my last residence, our current home is ridiculously easily accessible to bugs and other critters. Our front door is at ground level, mere feet away from shrubs and hedges (aka adult beetle food), so it’s easy for something to sneak in when T or I enter and exit the house. We have wall-to-wall carpeting, so there’s lots of little crevices where a bug could theoretically lay eggs. And I have a lot of hair, and tend to shed a lot. Left unchecked, our home is prime breeding ground for bugs, even without my knitting hobby and all the wool (aka baby beetle food) kept in the house.

So we aim to keep it checked. We vacuum regularly. I inspect the stash every few months and keep it in sealed containers, store the handknits in airtight containers during the off-season (upstairs, as far from the front door as possible), put all yarn through a freeze/thaw/freeze cycle every year, etc. And as long we didn’t do something utterly stupid, all our natural fibers have stayed safe.

However – you knew that word was coming, didn’t you? – we did do something stupid. Some things, rather:

1. Neither of us stored our Felted Clogs properly in the off-season. We just left them out in the open, right on the shoe rack. Which is right by the front door.
   
2. T and I vacuumed all the easily accessible areas regularly, but – as embarrassing as this is to admit – neither of us was always good about moving the shoe racks to vacuum behind and under them.

So of course, both pairs Felted Clogs ended up infested with beetle larvae. Grooooss. At least those are the two projects I am least sad about losing (let’s be honest, each pair took all of 2-3 days to make, and that’s including felting time), rather than something like my Forest Path Stole, but still. Boo.

Once I tossed the clogs out, I then launched into full inspection mode. Thankfully, the beetle invasion was limited – no larvae anywhere else, and every single one of my properly-stored knits was completely fine. (A SmartWool shirt – that I did not think to store properly, because I’m dumb – did have some tiny holes in it.) But, you know, I’m paranoid, so I laundered every article again, even though I’d washed everything before storing it. (And then stupidly introduced a couple of holes in my Aeolian Shawl, by washing it with my Arm Candy and its non-smooth buttons. Whoops. Another lesson learned.)

And all the FOs and SmartWool clothing are going through a freeze/thaw/freeze cycle anyway. I have never been so grateful for our excessive amount of freezer space before!

Yarn’s next up for another freeze/thaw/freeze cycle. A couple of months early – remember, I do this regularly – but better safe than sorry. I’ve never lost yarn to bugs before, and I’m not about to start now.

And we’re basically vacuuming every part of the house much more frequently, until I feel better about the whole thing.

It could have been worse. And would have been worse, had I not already been paranoid about infestations and taken some preventative measures with yarn and clothing. Thank you, past Kris, for doing something right at least. (Okay, fine, past Kris and T – fibery storage may be mostly my responsibility, but general cleaning is up to both of us)

What have I learned from this? That we’ve been on the right track, but our housekeeping could still use some improvements.

Oh, and that carpet beetles are bastards.

Confession 1: When I started this blog, I’d queued three weeks of posts up from the get go, and I have drafts for another three weeks’ worth in the pipeline. (Although the WIP photos are more recent; I have the text prewritten, and just add photos shortly before the intended publishing date.)

Confession 2: I can be selfish at times, with a tendency to think of and make things all about me.

These two things are a huge part of why I haven’t posted anything about recent world events. The other part is that, well, that’s really beyond the scope of this blog anyway. But I’d be lying if I said those events didn’t make me feel helpless, and angry, and grateful, and a whole mess of other emotions all at once. (Ugh, see what I mean? I’m making it all about me again. And no one needs to see that!)

I don’t have enough words to express just how I feel or what I think about many of these things, or why all of these events and issues should matter to you. But there are countless other bloggers who do. So rather than half-assing it myself, I’ll leave that task to the better bloggers.

So, this particular blog? It’s nice if you want a diversion from what’s going on around us all. But please don’t forget or ignore the more important things altogether. And if you can do something to help, even in a small way – please, please, please do.