Something Bugging Me!

We have had, for some time now, a major problem with carpet beetle.

Not moths......oh no......not weak little teeny tiny, "can't be doin' with all this spraying and gassing- I'm off" moths. Those are the bluetits of the pest world. We have carpet beetles. They are the Pterodactyl of the pest world!
SQUAWK!

And they look SO HARMLESS. They haven't even eaten the carpets!!
I sometimes think it would be easier to move house than to eradicate these little bug ( g***!)
Except I might be taking them with me?

We moved in 2007. The house isn't old but it hadn't really been looked after and so when we got it we had to make sure of a few essential maintenances.....like the roof! Although the roof is good - there were tiles missing, about which the previous occupant had neglected to tell us. So had the surveyor - but that's another story. < ahem>.

As there was a great gaping hole in the roof we got Jackdaws nesting. I'm fond of birds but I don't want to share my inside living space with them.
And where there are Jackdaws, there are nests.
And where there are nests there are carpet beetles.

They feed on the detritus in discarded nests ( lovely little creatures ) and so we had very quickly to get rid of them. We then had two years of relative peace. As far as beetles are concerned.
CUE.. < JAWS MUSIC >
Then, 'as if from a long sleep' ( as the author has it ) they emerged from their hidey holes and proceeded to chomp their way through my cashmere.( They should be called Cashmere beetles, THEY ARE SO FOND OF IT!)
I'm fond of my cashmere. I'm also fond of the price I paid for it!

Now I have not one piece ( yeah I do....just one new piece I had for Christmas - and I quake every time I take it out ), which hasn't been ventilated.

It's heartbreaking.

Get rid of the little bugg ers...I hear you cry. Fumigate, spray, shake powder, chase, squash and thoroughly exterminate!

But hold your horses!
WE HAVE.

We have been trying for three years to eradicate them. Yes we are winning. They are smaller, weaker and less of them.
But they are still there. And it only takes one little caterpillar ( no I shan't dignify it with a word as nice as that,)  MAGGOT, to eat through yer best cardy!

Ah well.....keep fumigating. And Fulminating.

The point of this little diatribe on a mostly flowery crafty blog?

I simply couldn't bring myself to get rid of my cardys. So this is what I have done with the first of them...
Every hole- no matter where ( and they are never organised in their nibbling - wouldn't be so bad if they were, ) I've darned with embroidery wool and added a bead. Yes...it'll do.

My yellow shrug, they have comprehensively banqueted.
So a little yellow silk and a few flowers later...I might just be able to resurrect it. Watch this space.

ALSO, watch the space in your loft. If you get them, check for nests and remove. Clean everything scrupulously. Cover everything edible ( all natural fibres ) in cling film to store. Then get a fumigating can and go out for the afternoon.
Then do it again...
and again.....




and again.
And cross your fingers.

OR...don't buy any cashmere! :)