Monday, July 7, 2008

Bigger than your palm

The spider in the previous post, that is. For some reason (the lack of smashing them, most likely), they grow huge here at Becher Haus. 3.5"x 4.5" is getting to be standard size, and I am creeped out just thinking about my many-footed friends in the basement. Ugh. The poisons we have used routinely don't work on spiders because they don't lick their feet. Weird, huh? The bug man told me that's how most poisons work... the bugs groom themselves and each other (ants are very big on social grooming... who knew?) and ingest the toxins that kill them. I have no ants, roaches, or termites, but the big, honking arachnids are taking over. Perhaps they have more to do with our otherwise critter-free home than I would care to know.

Tonight I am knitting more on the two pet projects, the Clapotis wrap and the Mockery socks. A Netflix disc did not come today, but that's okay... plenty to watch around here, and I'm ever thankful of the simple patterns and expanses of worry-free knitting these two projects are affording me right now. Dinner was Chinese take-out (I over-ordered, as usual), and the kids are all doing the cleaning up. A glass of iced decaf coffee waits for me by my knitting bag... the one cleverly labeled 'books', because Lands' End goofed my order. The 'knitting' bag is en route. I'm not holding my breath. I'll bet they spell it with one 't'. Pardon my sarcasm, but in the order of six "monogrammed" totes, only two were what I actually ordered. Just keeps life interesting, you know. Go be crafty... I'll be back tomorrow, with pictures.

2 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

I wanna see those totes when I come down there! And Caaammmmiiiii....I so didn't want to be reminded of that dumb spider right before bedtime!!!

CraftRage said...

Gahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was raised on the west coast of Canada, and we got some wicked big spiders out there. Big and hairy. We found a way to knock the population down, but it ain't for the faint of heart!

Get a roll of painter's tape and a roll of double-sided OUTDOOR carpet tape - the indoor stuff isn't sticky enough. Put a wide stripe of painter's tape near a corner where you've got a lot of webs, and on top of the tape, put a wide stripe of double-sided tape. Then wait. Check the tape often, and you may notice that you have a patch of tape that looks like it came directly from hell, with four or five very large, very hairy spiders fighting to get off it.

Put more carpet tape ON TOP of the spiders, so that if their legs come free while you're removing the tape, they're still trapped, (and also so they can't look at you) then pull up the tape and run squealing to the nearest outdoor garbage can. I find a nice, high-pitched "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" works best.