The dreaded moth

I was busy spinning my mohair when I realised I needed a sample of raw mohair for the sample card I'm making for this project.    I went to get it from the display cabinet that's been taken over for fibre storage and spotted something that just looked wrong.   A closer look at the bag of Alpaca confirmed it; full of moth casings, absolutely chocka!   My plans for the rest of the afternoon changed very quickly.   The infested bag was biffed; it was obvious that they'd come in with it, and eaten their way out of it too as half the plastic seemed to be eaten.
Everything stored in there had to be gone through, the whole thing vacuumed very carefully and a determination made about what if any could or should be saved.   I think I've been lucky though, found a few dead moths in some of the other bags, but no casings or droppings.  They've all been checked thoroughly, bags changed and now all bar one is in the chest freezer.  I couldn't fit the last one, but I didn't find anything in that bag which is why it can wait.   In the freezer is currently one bag of Merino, the mohair, a Perendale and the remaining bag of Alpaca from the same farm but obviously not from the same moth source.   The last bag of Merino is waiting for space to come available and is sitting next to the freezer so I don't forget it.
I was really good though, I didn't swear at all when I spotted them as the boys were home and when George asked me to get him some water and ice I told him he could get it himself (he's quite capable) as I was dealing with a fibre crisis; I think that was very restrained of me.   Then again it's happened enough times now that I know exactly what to do.

In more positive news I have some spinning to show you.   Some beautiful Merino/Silk/Alpaca/Mohair blend yarn; this is a 3-ply yarn of approximately double knit weight and 969 metres long.

Beautiful and lovely to touch.  It's probably going to be a t-shirt type top

After I finished this I got the boys to help me make soap from a soap kit; my hands are incredibly dry as a result, but I have some lovely soap that smells like roses.  The boys weren't sure about it but Ian made one cake and George made 4.   I've got them sitting on the top of the aforementioned freezer at the moment and it smells divine in there!

I wish you could smell this!

And what I was working on just before the moth issue was found

The hand-dyed fibre and the single I'm spinning at the top

Singles on the bobbin

The finished singles yarn; 247.5m of heavy lace/light fingering yarn.    The colour is brighter than it shows here; but closer to this than the bobbin photo.

At this point I think it's going to be an Ice Queen, got to see what I have in the bead stash to see what will work.  I'll make the stocking stitch version.