in a land far away …… Yes, I have a knitting story and it even involves a fairy godmother. And potential monsters!

Years before I met her, a non-knitting friend commissioned a young lady to knit her a cabled Rowan cardigan. And this young woman worked hard and diligently and completed all but one sleeve and the button band/collar. At some point the young woman was unable to finish the sweater and the project was set aside for years. The non knitter did not have the heart to question what would become of the sweater.

Enter me. I meet the non knitter about five years ago. I heard about the cardigan, but was very busy with all my many projects. Well, recently I seem to have hit a knitting lull, where there is nothing that I am simply dying to knit. I have been filling this lull knitting away on dishcloths ala Mason Dixon.

So I tell my non knitting friend that I will take a look at this long neglected project. Right away, I see that the yarn situation is very dicey and I weigh the sleeve that is complete against the weight of yarn remaining and come up a few ounces short – and that doesn’t take into account the collar and button band.  The yarn is Rowan Magpie, which has been discontinued for a few years and as far as I can tell, the color I am after has been discontinued even longer.  (cue foreboding music)  I mention the shortage on my blog and have a few of my knitting friends mention it on their mystical Rowan and Yahoo lists.

The wonderful LesleyP is in Australia, knitting away and cruising the internets and she sees the cry for help.  And what do you know, she is sitting on a stash of Magpie!  But that is not even the most amazing part.  There she is all down under, sitting on a stash of Magpie in the color Sealord ….. I need three, she has six and she is willing to split them up.  Not only that, but she doesn’t want to be paid for any of this, the thrill of the good deed is enough for her.  Can you believe it?! Is this woman covered in fairydust or what?!   Of course, I had to shower her with heaps of praise and also a few well chosen thank you gifts.

So, the cardi would seem to be back on track, no?  NO!!!

I am working on it the other evening and notice a little buggy flitting around.  When the sweater came to my house the first thing I did was to wash all the pieces, but I did not wash the yarn that came with it. These little beasts are definitely from the yarn that came with the project – I took a good look at the skein and there seems to be some bits of stuff in there.

First I panicked.  Then I googled wool moths and read that they are not attracted to light – my little monsters do seem to flit around the light.  Who knows what the hell they are.  There are not a lot of them, just a few … but these are the equivalent of buggy scouts, I am sure there is an army behind them.

OR all of this could be a total coincidence and they could have nothing to do with the yarn and are simply coming in through the window screens that have holes in them courtesy of the pugs.

to be on the safe side, the entire project is spending some time in the deep freeze ……

btw … does anyone know the effects of freezing on Addis?  In my haste to getitoutgetitout!!!! I threw the whole project in the freezer, needles and all!