There is nothing like a comment contest to boost a blogger’s morale, let me tell you! I have not been disappointed. Reading your comments about that bug I found in my tub provided much entertainment. And Chris, TMI! Seriously, dood!
So some of you are probably wondering what kind of bug that was. Some of you thought it might be a silverfish. Most of you had the same reaction I’d had: “Ew, that bug is freaking me out! Honey, get over here and dispatch of it posthaste!!!” Now, I’m going to surprise you all. That is the exact wrong reaction to have.
Mr. Interrupted ignored my pleas to smush it (which, I am not kidding, was a good two inches long and nearly as fat as a dime) and gently scooped it up into a cup. Then he insisted I do a google search for centipedes of Connecticut. Now, I had firmly fixed in my mind that this thing was some sort of mutant radioactive silverfish (and why on Earth would anyone want to rescue a disgusting silverfish?!) so while I was googling, I was arguing with him. The first thing I did was go to the silverfish wiki and realized that, for once, Mr. Interrupted was right. Our bug was decidedly not a silverfish. So, I googled up centipedes of Connecticut and found this. Our creepy crawly is a house centipede.
Now before you all give the poor guy a collective Cesarean thumbs down, realize that house centipedes are actually beneficial bugs. It surprised me to learn that these guys eat household pests, including roaches and silverfish. They eat bed bugs and carpet beetles. They even eat clothes moths, people! That little house centipede will protect your yarn from the moths that are out to eat it. House centipedes are awesome. Their only problem is that they freak people the fuck out.
[thanks to myriorama for this beautiful and terrifying macro shot]
Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow to see who wins the contest!
Knitting Interrupted 
Ok, now I don’t feel so freaked out about the bugs I sometimes see running through the house. Long live the house centipede! Eat those clothes moths and protect my wool!! :D
sorry, but I’d still squish it. no mercy. :-P
Centipedes scare the poop outta me. I’m a wuss.
Well, that’s good to know. Of course, my cats *still* like to play with the centipedes – and yes, that usually means the centipedes lose. But, there are still plenty of them in the basement I think (um, centipedes, not cats).
And, my main concern was one of the lil creatures stinging my newborn. Ack!
Nice shot! Yeah, contests usually do boost readership. I’ve been thinking of having one myself. Maybe after my move…
Srsly, that pic is freaking me the eff out!
Okay, well, I followed the link to this blog because you’d totally rightly called me on an asinine and ignorant comment I left at Shapely Prose… and… Ew. That’s a disgusting bug. But a very nice blog. But a disgusting bug. You should use that photo to punish people who leave ignorant comments at Shapely Prose, HEY!
Do they sting? Is there a way to mutually, and safely co-exist with these things? My first impulse would’ve been to squish it before it bit or stung me…
I also have the little creeps, house centipedes, and I wish to hell they WOULD hang out on the lower level where my yarn and fiber lives. But nooooooo, they have to live in the jet ports in my black bathtub, and float out into the hot water when I am sitting so happily in a bath, and are invisible until they float so gracefully across my white, white belly. They still terrify me. Spiders I have learned to love (for their benificence) and leave alone, but the centipedes….