Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Storing Woolens

People often ask me how I store my woolens for the summer to avoid the dreaded m*th.  After a lot of years of experimenting, I've come up with a system I like pretty well.
First, wash everything.  People always ask me why the m*th hole is always smack in the middle of the chest on their favorite sweater.  The answer is that they probably spilled something on the front of it and didn't wash it before putting it away for the summer.  Believe me, it doesn't take much.  M*ths love anything that is the least bit dirty.  So, I run all my socks through the wash and hand wash anything else.
Next, I take a box of m*th balls, open the top and put the whole open box in a quart ziplock bag.  This goes in a drawer with all my woolens.  By putting the m*th balls in the ziplock it cuts down the stinkiness while still making it stinky enough to keep away the m*ths.  Your garments will smell slightly of m*th balls for a day or so after you take them out in fall and then they will be fine.  I know a lot of people are against using m*th balls.  They are smelly and toxic but there are times when chemical warfare is called for.  Using the ziplock cuts way down on the stink and also makes a box of m*th balls last for years.  I think mine's been going five years now and isn't done yet.

1 comment:

P. M. Aceves said...

Have you tried cedar blocks? we have lots of moths (upon inspection, the food-eating-only kind, but ominous noetheless), but I wear my woolens through the summer, and get horrible rashes and allergies with naptha. If the moths are affeted, s'm I. So I'm trying to hang everything on cedar hangers, and put cedar blocks in the drawers...

~pati

PS: I found your blog! Now to remember what the tandem one was called....