This afternoon I opened my closet door and was looking for a pair of pants when a moth fluttered out. This was at ~ 4PM, so I kind of panicked…
I live in CA and don’t have air conditioning (old house) or window screens at this point. I usually open the windows at night, and the occasional moth will get inside. Usually I just “escort” them back out the window, or the dogs eat them. But I’ve never seen one inside during the day, and certainly not in my CLOSET!
I don’t have a lot of wool clothes, and I really don’t have much of a stash either. I have a wool/ acrylic store bought sweater in that closet, and 2 other wool sweaters that are in a drawer in the bedroom. I have a few wool scarves in a different room. My stash is in the closet where the moth was, and I have maybe 10 or 15 balls of yarn that have wool in them. They are all in a clear plastic rubbermaid type container. My closet isn’t even dark - it has a window! I didn’t find any other moths, or any damage to the yarn or sweater (or any eggs or cocoons or crap, EEW!).
I pulled all the wool and wool blend yarn in the stash out and put it in my freezer. I looked at the 3 sweaters and they looked okay… What else should I do? I guess I kind of thought moths were something to worry about if you have a lot of old clothes in a musty closet or attic. I toss my stash regularly and I actually keep the closet pretty clean.
The irony of it all is that yesterday I was reading Yarn Harlot: Secret Life of A Knitter, and she talks about finding moths in her house/ stash. I thought smugly, “Glad I don’t have that much stash, certainly not some wool WIP I haven’t seen in 5 years in a bag somewhere. I don’t need to worry about that!” DOH! I jinxed myself!!!
Any advice would be appreciated. I wouldn’t mind sacrificing the Jaywalkers to a moth since we’re not on speaking terms right now, but I really want to protect the rest of my woolen things.