Hitchcock-like Invasion

I’m not wild about the creepy crawlies. I’ll jump if a snake crosses my path and I’ve yelped when I had discovered a little field mouse in my last house. But if they keep to themselves, I can cohabitate with them. Take spiders for instance. I’m not wild about them. I don’t want to hold them or have them crawl on me, but I have several living in my place. They keep to their corner and I keep to mine. They don’t do any damage and even help out - in the summer they keep any fruit flies that make it inside down to a minimum. I’m good with spiders, I’ve even named them - they’re all called George since I’m afraid to admit they all look the same to me.


I remember once, when I was on the west coast, my kitchen being invaded by little brown, innocuous ants and getting goose-bumps. After seeing Hitchcock’s movie, “The Birds”, I have respect for animals en masse. And that’s the issue. If they’re small and don’t do any harm, I’m OK. If they’re small and do some harm but there’s only one or two, I’m not too happy, but I’ll probably make do. But if they are doing harm AND there are a bunch of them, then I start getting creeped out and start to worry.

And you got it, I’m finding that I’m getting invaded by little buggers. I mentioned them at the end of last year. I have absolutely no idea what they are. They’re little, itty bitty worms - nothing if you just see one or two. I’d guess they’re less than a quarter inch. I can mush them in my fingers, no problem. Over the winter I moved the few items (usually yarn items) that I found with one or two worms in them, onto my 3-season porch to be subjected to three continuous days of freezing. I was told by several sources (including a relative who works at a museum that deals with these issues professionally) that this is what is to be done. My porch is full of stuff and I have yet to move anything back inside.

The problem is that I all of a sudden started discovering these little buggers in other places - everywhere actually. Just one or two lone fellas, but somehow they’ve migrated to the far corners of everything I own. They leave a little cocoon thing so you can see where they’ve been and they usually wrap themselves up in wool, so what looks like a fuzz is actually home to one of the little worms.

Last week I went to grab a sweater from the bottom of the pile and there were signs of critter presence. I was cleaning a chair and in the crevice of the seat (it was slipcovered) I found another one! I pulled out a blanket from storage, and boom, there was another guy. And it’s not just dormant stuff, this morning I was taking off my jacket and sweater I wear with the jacket everyday and there was a hole in the sleeve of the sweater - I think done by one of the little guys, or it could have just gotten caught on something that created a whole. I’m starting to go crazy now. Every fuzz, or little bit of something I’m paranoid and think it’s evidence of invasion. And winter is over - no more three continuous days below freezing. At night, yes, but not 72 hours straight.

I don’t know quite what to do. I’ve started by filling my freezer with a batch of sweaters - good thing I don’t have a lot of frozen food - most of which I put in the door. I’ll put them in the laundry next, they need a good washing anyways, and I’m thinking of this as a spring cleaning. I’ll need to find a safe place to store the “cleaned” stuff. And then I guess I just bleach the closet surfaces. I hate to do that but not sure what else to do. Actually, I just had an idea - I’ve been thinking of repainting stuff. I think I’ll repaint the inside of my closet - it could use a nice new coat to spruce things up. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll slowly move my sweaters through the freezer. I was looking online and thinking of buying a used freezer to put in the basement. You know, one of those big things that you could put a body in. I could use it for a few months and then get rid of it once I’ve cycled everything through. I’d put all my linens, clothes, yarn (again), fabric and anything else that could possibly house a lone worm.

The quandary is how to deal with the bigger items. The one chair which had the slipcover, I’m suspicious one of the worms might have crawled down to the good fabric below and the innards of the chair. And this is my favorite, good chair that I just spent tons of money reupholstering a few years back with some really expensive fabric. The slip cover was to keep the cat claws at bay. I’d like to freeze the whole chair but think I’ll just have to wait for next winter. And what about my other furniture. No signs, but does that mean I’m free and clear? Could a lone worm that is in my couch somehow migrate back to the sweaters and breed and I have to start the whole cycle over again?

And there are the rugs. I have mostly wood floors thank goodness. But I do have one oriental rug in the living room and two carpeted rooms. I’m thinking it’s time to get rid of the carpet. I have a steam cleaner and think I’ll just slowly steam clean every inch of the oriental rug, twice. Not sure if that will do the trick, but fingers crossed.

It’s going to be slow going and I feel like I just finally got everything into its right place and now I have to turn my place upside down - having quarantined zones and bleached down safe zones.

In other news, I just bought some new fabric to make some slipcovers for my couch and chairs. I looked at my budget and realized it will be several years until I can get a new sofa and my current one is just embarrassing. It’s in good shape but those cat claws have done a number of the years. My local fabric store is having a huge sale on upholstery fabric. Not a huge selection to choose from, but for the sofa I found some fabric for only about $7/yd. I’m not completely sold on the color. It’s a tealish color which looks great with the mid-century Danish blond wood in the room, but I may experiment with dying it a slightly darker shade. I’ll cut out the pieces this weekend and pin it up and see what I think. I think with some nice pillows the color will get a bit more subdued. It’s all slowly starting to come together. I was thinking I really need to take some pictures to post. Definitely some before pictures. But love having my own place to slowly transform, piece by piece into my little haven, sans critters hopefully.