Requiem for a Yarn Stash

Less well-behaved yarns, originally uploaded by twitchycat.

Pardon the poor picture quality ... the cell phone can only do so much. I feel as if this was an obituary photo. This is a yarn stash drawer before the Great Moth Invasion of 2008. This drawer was the hardest hit, with some out-and-out losses. I tossed about ten balls of yarn, mostly the mixed stash stuff with no labels and of mysterious origins. Fiber content became pretty clear, though! Apparently there was a lot of wool in there.

I spent the better part of a weekend picking moth larvae out of skeins (truly as nasty as it sounds), washing as much as I could in Eucalan, and freezing what I could not wash. Everything is now hermetically sealed in plastic zip storage bags. I am suspicious about the wisdom of not allowing my precious fiber to breathe, but the moths seem to be a more immanent threat than mildew. At least it is a very dry time of year in the house, what with the forced air heat.

I suppose the best that can be said about the whole miserable experience is that I was able to re-discover my stash. I have enough yarn to keep myself happily in stitches for quite some time, and that makes the "yarn diet" less painful. Also, The Young Man, who bravely kept me company as I battled with the wee beasties, told me that he would be getting me yarn for Christmas because, "You just love yarn so much, Mom."

Good boy.

P. S. I haven't made it to the fabric drawers yet.