First: Mind's Eye Yarns does not repair moth damage. There are no exceptions to this policy. If you are looking for someone to repair moth damage, we recommend checking in with your local dry cleaner or tailor, they may know someone who can assist. 

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Moths. They're the bane of every fabric artist's existence. They eat our stash and our finished objects, they have a taste for the expensive stuff, and as a side bonus, they're awful for anyone who has dust allergies. Once they're around, they're very difficult to get rid of. 

The original version of this post was inspired by a day where I went digging around looking for a pair of knitting needles and found a mostly-finished afghan that was absolutely destroyed; there was nothing to do but throw it out. Six months later, I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear. 

There are a few basic rules that can help you avoid moth infestations in the first place and try to deal with the aftermath if they (inevitably) show up anyway. 

Store yarn in airtight containers. 

Moths are incredibly small, and they can wiggle through almost any opening, so airtight storage is key to preventing moths. For me, this means zip-top plastic bags which are stored in plastic latching bins. The vacuum seal bags that let you squish all the air out of what's inside are great for storing bulkier yarns or sweater quantities that you know you won't get to for a minute. 

Some people swear by using scents like lavender or cedar to deter moths. For me, it hasn't made a difference, but my yarn did smell nice, so feel free to try it out; just don't rely on it as your primary prevention strategy. 

Quarantine all new yarn. 

Whenever I buy new yarn, no matter where I buy it from, unless I'm immediately putting it on the needles, it goes into quarantine from somewhere between a few weeks and when I remember to photograph it and put it in my Ravelry stash. This means that it goes into its own zip-top bag. I can keep an eye on it and make there there aren't any stealth bugs making an appearance without risking my existing yarn. 

Space out your stash.

I have my stash divided up into single skein wonders, different sweater quantities, and workhorse yarn that doesn't have a purpose yet. This both lets me find what I want more easily AND means that if the moths get into one part of my stash, they probably won't hit everything. 

Go through your stash often.

I try to go through my yarn once or twice a year to try and keep my stash under control. I take yarn that I don't love and donate it (that'll be another post soon). This can help scare away moths; they hate light and movement, so moving things around and shining light in the corners can help thwart their invasion attempts. 

Clean garments before putting them away.

Moths are attracted to sweat and dirt (gross, I know), so when you go to put away your seasonal garments, give them a good wash first. Items I wear close to my skin regularly get washed more often than heavy sweaters that get put away for six or seven months of the year, but everything gets washed before it gets tucked away. Anything that is going into the back of the closet absolutely gets stored in plastic. 

Moth damage means moths.

If you find one garment with a moth hole, you almost certainly have moths in your space, and like most pests, they don't tend to be one-off problems. The one you saw is just the one you saw; presume that there's a larger problem until proven otherwise. 

Oh crap, I saw a moth. Now what?

So you've seen one of the terrifying little jerks fluttering around. What do you now? 

Go through your stash. 

Check out every bag, look at every skein if possible. What you're looking for is yarn that looks sandy or has obviously been munched on. 

A picture from my own sad stash below. I took this and then texted Annie "Well, the good news is that I have a great set of photos for the newsletter about moth damage." You can see the white grit all over the yarn and the broken ends that look like someone took a bite out of the plies. 

A skein like this is done for. Toss it out, preferably in a plastic bag that immediately goes into your outside trash bin. Sorry, yarn, it was nice knowing you. 

The skeins that were NEXT to this one were set aside for extra careful inspection. If something has just a little damage (it's a little dirty, but no visible breakage, for example, I make a call. Sometimes I decide the yarn just isn't worth all the extra effort and trash it; for special skeins, I'll go through the extra mile and see if I can save it.

Freeze/Thaw cycles

Yarn or garments that have signs of moth presence but you want to save should be put through some freeze/thaw cycles or get heat treated. Sticking something in the freezer one time isn't enough; we need to kill any moth eggs that are present, and home freezers don't get cold enough to kill them. The goal is to kill any living larvae without letting them make more eggs, then let the next round of eggs hatch, but kill the larvae quickly. That means putting your yarn in the freezer for a few days, then taking it out for a few days, then repeating the cycle. 

You can also bag up everything in a black plastic bag and stick it all in the back of your car during the summer. Give that a few days in the sun, and anything alive is going to be baked, and very, very dead. You can also use a spray called SLA; this is probably available at your local hardware store. It's plant-based, and it's very very deadly to many pest bugs. 

However you decide to treat your yarn, make sure that it stays separate from your main stash for at least a month, just to make sure there aren't additional issues. 

Be merciless. 

In the mid-aughts, when I was new to stashing yarn, I had a very haphazard approach. Basically, I tossed yarn on shelves where it would look pretty, and then moved on. When I saw a moth, I figured it was just a random bug darting around. When I found a skein that was damaged, I rolled my eyes and figured it was just a thing that happened. I lost hundreds of dollars of yarn because I didn't take what was happening seriously. 

Don't be me. Learn from my mistakes. Protect your yarn.