I keep my blog as a personal record of what I'm up to, which might be seen as working towards "An elegant sufficiency, content, retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, ease and alternate labour, useful life"

I'm certainly not there yet.  There is quite some way to go!

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Sunday
May032009

Ruffled

Whilst in London for the conference in February, I dropped into Banana Republic and bought a couple of treasures.  One,a silky top which I've worn several times and feel really comfy in, the other a creamy cap sleeve ruffle-edged cardigan in a merino-cotton mix which I thought would be perfect for a chilly summer evening.  Because we were nowhere near cap-sleeve cardigan weather, I put it away and brought it out to wear for the first time on Friday evening.

 

My cardigan is cream and I chose to wear it unbelted over black top and trousers.

 

 

When I got home, to my horror, I discovered three small holes in my lovely new cardi.  The only explanation could be that the moths had been having a feast.  Not a happy bunny, I can tell you. 

 

 

Fortunately, Banana Republic are one of the companies who continue to offer spare buttons and, in this case, a card of mending yarn.  Also, fortunate that I am the kind of person who squirrels these things away in case of such disasters, so I was well equipped to tackle the challenge.

 

 

I'm also quite proud of my ability to darn.  When a UK magazine relaunched a couple of years ago and included a "how to" feature, they consulted me for darning advice, no less! So, feeling relatively optimistic, I set to and armed with my magnifying lamp, I carefully mended five holes, because when I looked more closely, I found another two.

I did a quick check afterwards and discovered another couple.  Then redid one which didn't meet my own standards and did a better job.

Found another hole as I finished that one.

Checked it over and thought that I'd give it a cool rinse through in some gentle wool wash before putting it away.  I might consider putting it in a ziplock bag and freezing it before I do.  That should get rid of any of the little blighters who fancy another feast.

I gently squeezed the rinsing water out of it before reshaping it to dry and you can imagine what I found.  Yes, another hole.

 

This afternoon, as I took the dry cardigan to sort out that last hole, I found another four, making a total of thirteen holes.

 

I've now carefully pressed the cardigan and feel sure I got them all now.  It's going in a bag and into the freezer before another hole appears

 

But every cloud has a silver lining and my dear friend Mary has taken her personal shopping responsibilities very seriously indeed and has tracked down a replacement cardigan for me in a Los Angeles branch of Banana Republic.  It's black, not cream, so my repairs have not been in vain either.

 

Any tips and hints for foolproof moth protection gratefully received.  I really don't need any more darning practice.

Reader Comments (2)

how terrible to hear about all the holes!
i'm rubbish at darning, so i wish that i had
been looking over your shoulder to see an
Expert at Work.

May 4, 2009 | Unregistered Commenternadine fenton

Goodness me that is a lot of work - you are tenacious!

May 4, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGeorgina

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