When we got home we found out a deer mouse had moved in. Argh! I was putting up clothes when some cat food fell out from the sweaters. I sucked in my breath and started pulling out the sweaters. Thebes cable sweater was ok. I felt light headed with relief.

I pulled out all the sweaters and all were intact. Then I checked my yarn. The mouse had made a nest in my yarn. What yarn? The Noro! And my felt art pieces!

Before I go on I should mention that cleaning up mouse turds and nests is not so simple in New Mexico. Hanta virus is serious in these parts and people do die from it. To properly clean it you have to air out the area, wear an air mask, wear gloves and spray disinfectant on the area, let it sit for awhile and then wipe it up. Vacuuming or sweeping is bad because it put the virus into the air.

So cleaning up my yarn was no quick process. Thankfully the mouse had just stashed cat food in the yarn and felt. There were no turds or holes from munching.

Then I checked my skirts. I cried when I found my Winter Freedom Skirt:

Damn it damn it damn it! I found it the day we got back but hesitated taking a picture because it still hurts to look at. With no people or animals in a house for almost three weeks of course a mouse would check it out! We left within two days of buying our last minute tickets. But next time I will protect my knitwear and yarn and set out mouse traps.

Close ups of the damage:

I think it can be repaired. I’ll have to cut off the fuzz and cut around the hole. Then I’ll knit a replacement patch and sew it in. Luckily I always keep a little bit of yarn from my projects for possible repairs. However, my repair ball for the skirt is in storage somewhere. When it’s not as cold I’ll head to storage and dig through bins to find my craft supplies.

This repair is not going to be fun but hopefully it will work. I love this skirt so much I have to try.

Prana cornered the mouse a couple of days later and Thebes shot it with the BB gun. And we’re finished sanitizing everything. What a headache.