the pretty year

It’s beginning to look a lot like ChrAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH BUG ATTACK!!!!!

• Red Merino wool sweater (last seen here) from Calvin Klein Collection (couture!) via Filene’s Basement– $12.49
• Black pants (last seen here) from Bloomie’s Aqua via Filene’s Basement– $6 on clearance
• Chunky green necklace (last seen here) from Lane Bryant– $15 on sale
• Faux tortoiseshell headband from Claire’s– $3 or4
• Rubber-bottomed red heels (last seen here) from Aerosoles– $29.99 on sale

So I was minding my own business, enjoying my mom’s cookie-baking and tree-decorating pre-pre-holiday casual get-together/colloquy and posing for silly photos when it happened.

I gestured empathically and caught a glimpse, on my elbow, of the indescribable horror. 

Holes!

In my sweater! 

My very expensive (not that I paid a lot for it, but still!) designer wool sweater!!!

Had I snagged it on a tree branch?  Caught it in the oven?

Nay, my mom diagnosed the problem: moths.

I guess it’s the dazzling array of synthetics I favor, but I’ve never really had a moth problem.  And in this day and age, it seems almost ludicrous.  Insects!  That destroy your clothing!!! 

I mean, really?  We can put a man on the moon and cheese right in the crust of a pizza, but we can’t stop WILD ANIMALS FROM EATING OUR CLOTHING?! 

What is this?  The Middle Ages?

Thankfully, Ye Olde Internette is still working, and has a few helpful moth-related tips I thought I’d share.

• Apparently moths are tricky little buggers and can slip into your closet (or bag of winter clothes you shoved under your bed– and by “you,” I mean me) pretty much undetected.  Here’s a surprising lepidopteran hideaway– the vacuum cleaner.  So change the (easily gnawed-through) bags a lot more often than I do.
• Mothballs will do the trick, but given their toxicity, potential for abuse (kids these days…) and the fact that they are a known carcinogen, you might want to stick to cedar chips or botanicals like these.  Or just soak some cotton balls in lavender oil– they should work almost as well, and they smell a heck of a lot better than 1,4-dichlorobenzene.
• You may be able to repair small holes like I did with my green sweater* by just darning them from the inside.  I’ll probably attempt this first, because…
• A  knitting expert or well-trained seamstress can fix these things for you pretty seamlessly, but it might not be worth it unless it’s an heirloom or an item that’s expensive to replace.  Most such repairs start at $20, but ask your favorite tailor– you never know what magic can be worked on a budget.
• When all else fails, throw a pin or a brooch on top of the hole and hope no one notices.  Admittedly, this works better when the hole is on the chest or lapel, and less-so when it’s on, you know– your elbow.

Merry Christmas to all!  And to moths, a good night!

—

*Actually not moth holes, but its pretty much the same idea.

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