How to Store Yarn Properly

Your yarn stash represents real money and real time spent choosing, sometimes dyeing, and definitely loving each skein. Storing it properly protects that investment. The two things most likely to destroy yarn before you've knitted it are moths and moisture — and both are completely preventable with a bit of planning.

Enemy Number 1: Moths

Clothes moths (Tineola bisselliella) are not the large moths you see flying towards lights at night. They're small, beige, and secretive — they actively avoid light and prefer dark, undisturbed spaces. It's the larvae, not the adult moths, that eat yarn. They're attracted to protein fibres: wool, alpaca, mohair, cashmere, angora, silk. They will not eat acrylic, cotton, or linen.

A moth problem often goes unnoticed until you pull out a skein and find a hole, a dusty residue, or actual small larvae (they look like tiny white caterpillars). At that point the infestation has been going on for weeks or months.

Prevention measures, in order of effectiveness:

Airtight storage: Moths cannot eat yarn they cannot reach. Store all natural fibre yarn (wool, alpaca, silk, cashmere, mohair) in sealed containers — airtight plastic bins with locking lids, ziplock bags, or vacuum storage bags. Clear bins let you see what's inside. Moths cannot chew through plastic, so this is your most reliable defence.

Cedar: Cedar wood naturally repels moths when it's fresh — the volatile oils from the cedar are what do the work. Cedar blocks, cedar rings, and cedar balls all work, but they lose effectiveness as the oils evaporate. Sand the cedar lightly every 6 months to release fresh oils, or replace it annually. Cedar alone is not sufficient protection for a large stash — it's best combined with airtight storage.

Lavender sachets: A secondary deterrent. Replace every 6 months when the scent fades. Effective as a supplement to cedar or airtight storage, not as a standalone solution.

Freezing new acquisitions: When you bring home new natural fibre yarn (especially from charity shops, destash purchases, or places where the provenance is uncertain), freeze it first. Place the yarn in a ziplock bag and freeze it for 48–72 hours. This kills any eggs or larvae that might be present before they have a chance to spread to your stash. Thaw at room temperature before storing.

Regular inspection: Once every few months, pull out your stored yarn and check it. Look for webbing, dusty residue, or small holes. Catching a problem early limits the damage significantly.

If you find moths: Quarantine any affected yarn immediately — seal it in a bag away from your stash. Freeze the entire affected lot for 72 hours. Inspect all nearby yarn carefully. Wash any affected finished knitted items on a hot cycle or have them dry cleaned. Clean the storage area thoroughly.

Enemy Number 2: Moisture

Damp yarn grows mildew and develops a musty smell that can be very difficult to remove. Some fibres (particularly natural, non-superwash wools and plant fibres) will also start to break down with prolonged moisture exposure.

Don't store yarn in a basement or attic unless it's climate-controlled. These spaces are subject to humidity fluctuations and temperature extremes. A dry interior room is the right environment. If you live somewhere humid, consider a dehumidifier in the room where you store yarn, or add silica gel packets to your storage containers — the type used for shoe boxes works well and can be recharged by drying them in a low oven.

Never store yarn that isn't fully dry. If a skein has been wet (washed, blocked, rained on) let it dry completely in open air before putting it back in storage.

Organisation Systems

How you organise your stash is a matter of personal preference, but here are the systems knitters most commonly use:

By weight category: All fingering together, all DK together, all worsted together. This makes it easy to grab yarn for a specific pattern requirement without searching through everything. The downside: it can be hard to visualise what you have for a specific colour project.

By colour: All blues together, all naturals together, etc. Beautiful to look at and good if you're a project knitter who thinks about colour first. The downside: you might forget you have three skeins of pink sport weight when you're looking for something for a baby project.

By fibre: All wool together, all plant fibres together, all synthetics together. Useful if moth-proofing is a primary concern — you know exactly which bins need the cedar treatment.

By project: Gather all the yarn for a specific planned project in one bag or box, labelled with the pattern name. Makes it easy to grab everything for a project and go. The downside: yarn without a plan gets left in a general pile.

Many knitters use a combination — sealed bins by weight and fibre for long-term storage, plus a "current projects" basket near their favourite knitting spot for yarn in active use.

To Wind or Not to Wind

Yarn comes from manufacturers in two forms: balls (or cakes), already wound and ready to knit, or skeins (hanks), twisted on themselves and not ready to use without winding.

For long-term storage, skeins are better. A skein stores tension-free — the yarn isn't under any stretch, which can cause fibre fatigue over months or years of being wound under tension in a ball. Centre-pull balls in particular can create a small amount of twist stress in the yarn over time, and a large cake left wound for a year can develop a set in the outer layers.

If you buy yarn in ball or cake form, that's fine for yarn you'll use soon. For yarn going into long-term storage, re-skeining it (wind it loosely around a swift or niddy-noddy, tie loosely in 3–4 places, store as a skein) is worth the effort if it's a precious or expensive yarn. For everyday acrylic and sturdy wool, leave it however it came and don't overthink it.

Labelling Your Stash

Keep the label with every skein. Even if the original ball band gets lost, write down the yarn name, brand, weight, colour name, dye lot, and metre/yardage on a small card and store it with the yarn. This information becomes invaluable when you want to use that yarn for a project, compare it to a pattern requirement, or buy more of the same lot years later.

Digital stash management on Ravelry (or a simple spreadsheet) is a useful backup — especially for photographing each yarn so you have a visual record even when you're browsing in a shop.

Found moth damage in your stash? Emma can help you assess and recover →