(re-post)
…….. but this one has a happy ending.
Over the years I've come across yarn and hand knit items that have been stored in basements or attics or sheds or trailers etc. in plastic bags or cardboard boxes or trunks etc.- conditions that have caused the fibre to smell or host moths or rot etc. Usually the things are the stash of someone's mom or wife or grandma who died many years ago and the family did not know what to do with it at the time; so they kept it. And now they want to get rid of it but want it to go to a good home.
If it has moth damage or has signs of moth eggs, most – if not all! – people who work with fibre will not want it – it could infect our stash. If it has any indication of dampness, it will also be treated with suspicion, because balls of wool may look fine on the outside but once you begin to unroll one it could come away in pieces, having rotted.
If it smells like smoke from a smoker's household or in a fire – no. I once bought a gorgeous hand knit sweater that even after many washings and airing smelled like an ashtray.
A musty or moldy smell, (or that 'used clothes' odour that seems to becoming more prevalent – I suspect laundry additives) can be – conquered!
On the weekend I purchased eight balls of lovely linen fibre. Wool I would likely have passed up because of the musty smell – but – linen, I could not resist.
Two immediately got wound into skeins and hand washed in baby shampoo and rinsed in vinegar and water (I would like very much to know of other's experience with what to use) and hung outdoors for the sun and wind and moon to have its go at eliminating the odour.
Well, it is working. Enough so ……..
…. that last night in the gloaming I wound all but two of the balls into skeins.
And, as sometimes happens, I got a sense of whoever's stash was being 'rescued' with a mutual appreciation and gratitude.
Here they are waiting on the wash and rinse.
I have not had much luck with getting rid of the smell from books – actually, no luck at all – but this was more a booklet with centre staples so it's been on the deck since the weekend with different pages open to the sun etc. and the odour is going. Hooray!