Thank you Mr. Moth (just this once)

Normally I  go on ad nauseam about my utter hatred of the clothes moth but my feelings and fears are shared with anyone who has a love of all things wool, so I won’t this time.  This time I must acknowledge my thrill of finding an otherwise perfect cashmere sweater that was banned to the thrift shop for possessing a tiny hole or two, so in a sense I have the moth to thank for my awesome collection of oh-so-soft sweaters.  But I could also thank the non-needle inclined [lazy?] person who would discard something so easily fixed (and often in my size)!

But this blazing beauty was one that was eaten beyond any hope of repair:

From a distance, it seems ok, but it isn’t, I couldn’t possibly document every hole, and some were lovingly/desperately stitched closed with a fuchsia thread that actually blended quite well – so much so that I keep finding new repairs I previously overlooked.

But it is a perfect blaze orange, so I gave it a new life as a hiking-during-hunting season hat and mitts ensemble.  I was able to unravel a bit of the shoulder cap so that I managed to harvest some perfect mending threads and spent a few hours closing the wounds (some more convincingly than others).  But I will cease to unravel any more since it is a pain in ass and fragile as all get out – the remaining scraps will work as mitten linings and quilt squares.

I was sure to keep plenty of mending yarn left!