I have terrible, heartbreaking news…. we have closet moths.

Fortunately my yarn stash is safe, because I keep it bagged in giant ziploc freezer bags. And for my hand knit sweaters, only one has become chewed, but I wasn’t crazy about my original yarn choice so this is a good excuse to re-knit it in something nicer. Oddly, the moths are not so keen on superwash, which is great- clearly 100% cashmere is their first choice, followed by 100% wool.

They seem to have a particular fondness for (sob!) cashmere. I own three cashmere sweaters. And here they all are:

I would love some advice, if any of you have battled closet moths and won! Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

• Moth balls. First off, they smell absolutely terrible, and they still don’t work. they have protected one sweater that is right beside them, but I can’t wear the sweater because it smells too awful. Also, won’t protect anything that isn’t within a few inches of a moth ball.
• Lavender oil. This seems to work, but only if I keep reapplying every few days. Does not seem to actually kill moths, just forces them to relocate somewhere else (like my daughter’s closet…)  Same thing with cedar oil. 
• Sticky paper/Fly paper: not a single moth has been caught this way.

I have some moth traps on order, they should arrive soon and then I can try those out, too. Apparently they emit a female moth pheromone that the male moths go towards, then get stuck in the trap, etc. The idea being that if all the male moths are dead, then they can’t impregnate the female moths, who then won’t lay eggs in my woolly things and hatch fiber-munching larvae. We’ll see. In the mean time, I’m bagging sweaters, washing everything, and trying to cram things in my too-small freezer (apparently freezing works too, but I have a teensy-tiny freezer that has food in it at the moment). Any other suggestions or from-the-trenches advice?