Wow, moths creep knitters out, eh?
I want to add to what I said about storage. A few people have asked about vacuum bags, like the ones you see advertised on television. The thinking is that if air is sucked out of the bags, there would be no air for the moths to live on, and the wool would be safe.
I bought one two months ago, just to try. There were several warnings in the directions that the bags were not intended to store comforters, down items, pillows, or any of the other things they showed being stored in the commercial because the storage method would damage the items. And that items shouldn't be stored for longer than six months. And that items would have to be washed when they were liberated to get the chronic wrinkles out. Not only that, but the bag I bought had a faulty valve so that the bag leaked air back in and within an hour, it was just a big and bulky as it had been before I emptied it. And my very competent vacuum almost blew its motor laboring to compact the thing. The company offered me an exchange, but I wanted my money back. Fortunately I was only out 14 bucks, but I felt taken nonetheless.
All this is to say that squeezing the air out of the bag for any length of time just compacts the yarn and might damage its loft and structure, and you probably don't want that.
As far as plastic bags are concerned, I should be clear that I have my fair share of them in my stash, but (as Emma says) I give the stash a stir regularly, and I am working on not relying on them quite so much. Kmart has in their Martha section some zippered cotton canvas storage bags with clear vinyl windows (sorry I couldn't find a link). I have a few of them and I'm confident that they are doing a good job of protecting my precious fiber. I had moth infiltration recently into some rather tasty baby alpaca I was keeping in a zippered vinyl bag, the kind sheet sets come in. I think that space around the zipper head may have been the gateway. So close those babies up tight. It's a battle without victories, only losses.
Okay, here's something I love, especially the knitting/spinning part of me (which is all you really care about, right?) I have very dry cracked skin in the winter, in spite of several fully employed humidifiers, attentive ministration, and all manner of hand creams and salves. I found a tin of magic potion last February at a spinning retreat, but ran out by August. And who should comment on my blog but a week ago but Claudia, whose blog name was the name of my beloved salve! So I had her send me some, and my knuckles are sighing with relief. It's called Heal My Hands. It's a little cake of things like shea and cocoa butters that you soften in your hands and then rub into your skin. You can even wash your hands a few times before it wears off. You really need this stuff if you spin or knit with real wool.
Oh, and here's PS 136 from the back to give you an idea of what the stranding looks like, at row 39::
wow--I am so impressed with your stranding!! I am always amazed to see the pattern still visible from the back--it seems as if you absolutely wouldn't be able to discern it with all the floats. Bravo to your patience!
Posted by: aubree | February 03, 2005 at 08:17 PM
Gotta love a sweater that looks as good from the back as the front! And another thing about those bags....they leave a funky white residue on everything that you store in them. And the clothes come out smelly. Yuck.
Posted by: Nancy in Livermore, CA | February 03, 2005 at 10:54 PM
Quite a tease with the picture from the back of the PS sweater. It's gorgeous, and you're making quick progress (or so it seems to me).
Thanks for all the moth info (and digusting picture).
Posted by: Cassie | February 04, 2005 at 09:10 AM
Great moth info...and the sweater is looking great from the back at least.
Posted by: Margene | February 04, 2005 at 11:43 AM
You might also be interested in handworkproducts.com - (nayy, but she's a friend) it's a local (Cambridge, MA) product, the ones I've tried work well.
Posted by: June | February 07, 2005 at 11:29 AM