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In 2013, I bought some beautiful bundles of wool. I had taken a crewel embroidery workshop and (as one does) bought way too many supplies afterward. I used some, but these beautiful bundles sat untouched for a decade. Then, I got a small tapestry loom and realized I could use that yarn for tapestry weaving. Except, when I was pulling out these beautiful skeins and arranging them by color, they were dusty. Not only that, the skeins looked broken apart and some looked like they’d disintegrated. The bottom of the bin was covered with this weird webbing.
I had the yarn stored in cute seagrass baskets. Was there something in the seagrass? Nope. After a lot of panic induced Googling I learned this was evidence of moths. This sent me into a tailspin. I weave and knit, so I had several other cute baskets full of balls of yarn leftover from finished projects, and even untouched skeins.
After a chaotic weekend of tearing my studio apart, throwing out yarn, crying, and spending too much money at The Container Store, I had dealt with the problem and was emotionally drained. If you find yourself in a similar position, I feel for you. Here’s how I got the moths out of my studio and what I learned along the way.
First, I’m just warning you, you’ll probably cry and it’s not just because yarn is expensive. Yarn holds memory. What we use yarn for is associated with the memories of what we’ve made, who we’ve made it for, even where we bought the yarn. Yarn also holds promise of what it could be. So, as you go through this process, let yourself feel it all, including the rage that these tiny little jerks came into your safe space uninvited and wreaked havoc.
Ok, let’s get started.
Once you have identified that you have a problem (or even suspect you do) remove that yarn immediately and separate it from the rest of your stash.
Pull all of your yarn out and examine every cone, skein, and ball. Start with your protein fibers, those that come from animals such as wool, alpaca, and silk. You’re looking for signs of moths, which can vary depending on where they are in their lifecycle. (I did not take photos during this experience, but you can find photos on this helpful blog post written by a spinner on the Slow Yarn website.)
Here’s what to look out for:
As you go, put your yarn into piles. Put yarn with no evidence in a safe spot. Consider separating what has been affected into two piles: one with hope for saving and one that may be a lost cause.
I’m going to break this to you gently: you’re going to throw out yarn you spent money on, yarn you love, yarn that was just waiting for the right project. Unfortunately, some yarn is going to be just too far gone to save. If it has been eaten through and dusty, you should throw it out. If it’s small leftovers from another project, just throw it out. Try to save what is really special, brand new, or doesn’t look damaged.
There is some hope, some yarn can be saved. First, clean off any visible eggs on the outside, or things crawling. (I recommend wearing gloves.)
In the book, Preserving Textiles, A Guide for the Nonspecialist, published by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the authors write that the most effective way to kill the insects is by freezing. “In order to kill all stages of the insect (egg, larva, and adult), the textile should be exposed to temperatures of -4º F for seven days.” It goes on to say that insects can adapt to a gradual change, so you want to go from room temperature to freezing quickly. Vacuum seal or put your yarn in a zip top bag and put it in your freezer.
After a week or two, remove the yarn. Before putting it away, give it a once over and run a sticky lint roller over the outside.
While your yarn is in the freezer, give your studio a major clean. Empty all the shelves and bins your stash is in, dust everything thoroughly and give all your yarn a once over, even the cottons and linens. If the yarn that was affected was in bins, clean them thoroughly and consider finding a new storage solution, especially if they are dark. (I have some suggestions below.)
If you have a lot of wool yarn, chances are you have a lot of stuff made with wool. Look through all your wool sweaters, scarves, area rugs, afghans and make sure you don’t see any signs of moths anywhere else.
With your clean studio and yarn removed from the freezer, it’s time to reorganize to help prevent another incident. Moths tend to like dark, quiet places, so if you were storing your yarn in dark bins replace them with clear ones, preferably with lids. If on a shelf, spread your yarn out, especially the animal fibers, so there is more light around them on the shelf.
Add moth deterrents to your shelves and bins to help keep moths away. Moth balls are hazardous to humans, but there are many natural solutions available including cedar blocks and herbal sachets.
Stay vigilant. Now that you know what to look for, check in on your yarn periodically. You can also buy moth traps to see if there are still moths present.
Moth-Away Repellent Sachets: These smell nice, are about the size of a tea bag and come in a pack of 24. I put these everywhere I have protein fibers present.
Extra Large Storage Latch Box, Translucent: Since moths like the dark, I made sure the bins I bought as replacements were clear and have lids. I like these boxes a lot for my Array tubes because the extra-large size box fits the tubes nicely and I organized them by color. In each bin, I placed one of the above sachets. For larger cones, I bought larger bins.
Stay The F*ck Away From My Yarn T-Shirt: I couldn’t help myself, it was too perfect!
One of the takeaways from this experience for me was that I had a lot of beautiful yarn sitting on my shelves. It broke my heart to throw out beautiful skeins that I held onto, waiting for the perfect project. As I cleaned my shelves and reorganized what I had, I rediscovered a lot of yarn that inspired me. I also donated a lot of yarn that had no damage, but was clearly not yarn I was ever going to use. At the end of this whole experience, I was ready to get weaving.
Kristin Crane began her career designing jacquard fabrics for the home furnishings industry with mills in the United States and China. Today she writes about pattern and textile design for Design Pool from her home studio in Providence, Rhode Island. Kristin weaves on a Macomber loom, a Mirrix tapestry loom, and sometimes on the go with a tiny Hello Loom. She loves to travel and is fascinated with what cloth tells us about a place and the people who live there. When she’s not in her studio, she can be found exploring the beautiful Rhode Island coastline and is rarely seen without a scarf.
